Senior Corps Distance Volunteering Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3943 To amend the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973 to establish an online service platform for volunteers in the National Senior Service Corps. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 11, 2020 Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself and Mr. CASSIDY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Edu- cation, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To amend the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973 to establish an online service platform for volunteers in the National Senior Service Corps. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Senior Corps Distance 4 Volunteering Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. ONLINE SERVICE PLATFORM. 6 Title IV of the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 7 1973 is amended— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:36 Jun 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3943.IS S3943 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3943 IS (1) by redesignating section 421 (42 U.S.C. 1 5061) as section 401; 2 (2) by moving that section 401 so as to follow 3 the title heading for title IV; and 4 (3) by inserting after section 420 (42 U.S.C. 5 5059) the following: 6 ‘‘SEC. 421. ONLINE SERVICE PLATFORM. 7 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term 8 ‘COVID–19 public health emergency period’ means the 9 period of the public health emergency declared by the Sec- 10 retary of Health and Human Services under section 319 11 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) on Jan- 12 uary 31, 2020, with respect to COVID–19. 13 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 30 days after 14 the date of enactment of the Senior Corps Distance Volun- 15 teering Act, the Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation 16 shall establish an online service platform to connect volun- 17 teers in the National Senior Service Corps with service 18 projects, and enable the volunteers to carry out distance 19 volunteering on an online network. The platform shall be 20 linked to and placed prominently on the website of the 21 Corporation. The Corporation may enter into a contract 22 with a public entity to create the platform. 23 ‘‘(c) INFORMATION AND GUIDANCE.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:36 Jun 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3943.IS S3943 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3943 IS ‘‘(1) INFORMATION.—The Corporation shall 1 provide information to regional offices of the Cor- 2 poration about how to get volunteers in the National 3 Senior Service Corps connected to the platform. 4 ‘‘(2) GUIDANCE.—The Corporation shall issue 5 guidance for the regional offices about how to trans- 6 fer the programs of the National Senior Service 7 Corps to the platform. 8 ‘‘(d) OUTREACH.—The Corporation shall provide out- 9 reach services to promote the platform, including outreach 10 to institutions of higher education, the Department of Vet- 11 erans Affairs for mentorship projects, and State and local 12 governments for community engagement projects. 13 ‘‘(e) REPORT ON IMPACT OF ONLINE SERVICE PLAT- 14 FORM.— 15 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 16 ‘appropriate committees of Congress’ means— 17 ‘‘(A) the Committee on Energy and Com- 18 merce of the House of Representatives; 19 ‘‘(B) the Special Committee on Aging of 20 the Senate; 21 ‘‘(C) the Committee on Health, Education, 22 Labor, and Pensions of the Senate; and 23 ‘‘(D) the Committee on Commerce, 24 Science, and Transportation of the Senate. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:36 Jun 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3943.IS S3943 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3943 IS ‘‘(2) REPORT.— 1 ‘‘(A) PREPARATION.—The Corporation 2 shall prepare a report that— 3 ‘‘(i) describes the use of funds appro- 4 priated to carry out this section, con- 5 cerning the online service platform de- 6 scribed in subsection (b); 7 ‘‘(ii) describes the ways in which the 8 platform has enabled volunteers in the Na- 9 tional Senior Service Corps, many of whom 10 are at higher risk for severe illness from 11 COVID–19, to apply their skills, knowl- 12 edge, and expertise to directly serve the 13 community through distance volunteering 14 by providing assistance during the 15 COVID–19 public health emergency pe- 16 riod; 17 ‘‘(iii) measures the number of volun- 18 teers in the National Senior Service Corps 19 volunteers who do, and the number of such 20 volunteers who do not, serve through the 21 online service platform, during the 22 COVID–19 public health emergency pe- 23 riod; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:36 Jun 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3943.IS S3943 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 3943 IS ‘‘(iv) assesses the impact of volunteers 1 in the National Senior Service Corps who 2 do, and the number of such volunteers who 3 do not, serve through the online service 4 platform, during the COVID–19 public 5 health emergency period. 6 ‘‘(B) SUBMISSION.—Not later than 1 year 7 after the end of the COVID–19 public health 8 emergency period, the Corporation shall submit 9 the report to the appropriate committees of 10 Congress. 11 ‘‘(f) RECOMMENDATION.—Not later than 6 months 12 after the end of the COVID–19 public health emergency 13 period, the Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation 14 shall submit a recommendation to Congress regarding 15 whether the Corporation should continue to use the plat- 16 form as a main resource for connecting volunteers in the 17 National Senior Service Corps with service projects and 18 enabling the volunteers to carry out distance volun- 19 teering.’’. 20 SEC. 3. EMERGENCY APPROPRIATION. 21 The following sums are hereby appropriated, out of 22 any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, 23 for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2020, and for 24 other purposes, namely: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:36 Jun 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3943.IS S3943 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 3943 IS 1 CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE 2 OPERATING EXPENSES 3 For an additional amount for ‘‘Operating Expenses’’, 4 for necessary expenses for the Corporation for National 5 and Community Service to carry out section 421 of the 6 Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973, $5,000,000: Pro- 7 vided, That the amount appropriated under this heading 8 is designated by Congress as being for an emergency re- 9 quirement pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Bal- 10 anced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 11 (2 U.S.C. 901(b)(2)(A)(i)). 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:36 Jun 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3943.IS S3943 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS