[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3787 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3787

  To direct the Secretary of Education to provide grants to States to 
    establish and carry out or continue to carry out antiharassment 
                               programs.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 15, 2005

   Mr. Nadler (for himself, Ms. Linda T. Sanchez of California, Ms. 
     Kaptur, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Rush, and Ms. DeLauro) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                      Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To direct the Secretary of Education to provide grants to States to 
    establish and carry out or continue to carry out antiharassment 
                               programs.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Antibullying Campaign Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR ANTIHARASSMENT PROGRAMS.

    (a) Grants.--The Secretary of Education shall provide a grant to 
each State that submits an application in accordance with subsection 
(c) to enable the State to establish and carry out or continue to carry 
out an antiharassment program as described in subsection (b).
    (b) Program Described.--An antiharassment program referred to in 
subsection (a) is a program that prohibits harassment in schools and at 
all school-sponsored programs or activities based on any distinguishing 
characteristic of an individual, including actual or perceived race, 
color, national origin, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual 
orientation, sex, gender identity or expression, family composition or 
circumstance, or economic circumstance.
    (c) Application.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary may not make a grant to a 
        State under this section unless the State submits to the 
        Secretary an application that contains detailed information 
        about the State's existing or proposed antiharassment program. 
        Such information shall include--
                    (A) the State's existing or proposed prohibition on 
                harassment;
                    (B) the State's existing or proposed definition of 
                harassment and any other relevant terms; and
                    (C) a budget for the antiharassment program, 
                including a detailed description of how amounts 
                received under the grant will be spent.
            (2) Application review and approval.--
                    (A) In general.--Not later than 30 days after the 
                date of submission of the State's application, the 
                Secretary shall review and approve or disapprove the 
                application.
                    (B) Approval.--Not later than 30 days after the 
                date on which the Secretary approves the State's 
                application, the Secretary shall provide a grant to the 
                State.
                    (C) Disapproval.--Not later than 30 days after the 
                date on which the Secretary disapproves the State's 
                application, the Secretary shall inform the State in 
                writing as to the reasons why the application was 
                disapproved and what the State may do to correct the 
                application and receive the Secretary's approval.
    (d) Matching Funds.--The Secretary may not make a grant to a State 
under this section unless the State agrees that it will contribute from 
non-Federal sources an amount equal to not less than 50 percent of the 
amount received under the grant to carry out the antiharassment program 
described in subsection (b).

SEC. 3. STUDY AND REPORT.

    (a) Study.--The Secretary of Education shall conduct a study 
concerning harassment in public schools in the United States. The 
findings of the study shall include--
            (1) the number of students who are harassed;
            (2) the demographics of those students who are harassed;
            (3) the type of harassment to which students are subjected, 
        including--
                    (A) the reasons upon which the harassment was 
                based; and
                    (B) the type of conduct, physical or verbal, 
                involved;
            (4) the number of States that have comprehensive campaigns 
        to combat harassment; and
            (5) the amount of funds each State expends on 
        antiharassment programs each year.
    (b) Process.--In conducting the study required by subsection (a), 
the Secretary shall make every effort to protect the privacy of 
students involved in reports of harassment.
    (c) Report.--Not later than one year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 3 years, the 
Secretary shall submit to Congress a report that contains the findings 
and an analysis of the study.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Harassment.--The term ``harassment'' means conduct, 
        including verbal conduct, that--
                    (A) creates, or would create, a hostile environment 
                by substantially interfering with a student's 
                educational benefits, opportunities, or performance, or 
                with a student's physical or psychological well-being; 
                or
                    (B) is threatening or seriously intimidating.
            (2) School.--The term ``school'' means an elementary school 
        or secondary school as those terms are defined in section 9101 
        of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 
        U.S.C. 7801).
            (3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Education.
            (4) State.--The term ``State'' includes the several States, 
        the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the 
        Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, 
        Guam, the Virgin Islands, and any other territory or possession 
        of the United States.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) In General.--There are authorized to be appropriated to carry 
out this Act $75,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2006 through 2009.
    (b) Availability.--Amounts authorized to be appropriated by 
subsection (a) are authorized to remain available until September 30, 
2009.
                                 <all>