[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4781 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4781

      To authorize the Secretary of Labor to make grants for the 
    establishment of information technology centers in rural areas.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 16, 2006

  Mrs. Capito (for herself and Mr. Gillmor) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the 
                               Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
      To authorize the Secretary of Labor to make grants for the 
    establishment of information technology centers in rural areas.

    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 ``Rural Information Technology 
Investment Act''.

SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR RURAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CENTERS.

    (a) Authorization.--The Secretary shall make grants of not more 
than $250,000 to eligible entities for the establishment of information 
technology centers in rural areas.
    (b) Eligible Entities.--Eligible recipients may be any small 
business or not for profit organization or businesses operating in a 
rural area.
    (c) Application.--To receive a grant under this Act, an eligible 
entity shall submit an application to the Secretary in such time and 
manner, and having such content, as the Secretary may by rule require.
    (d) Priority.--In making grants under this Act, the Secretary shall 
give priority to eligible entities that--
            (1) promote information technology research and development 
        at colleges and universities in rural areas;
            (2) are located in a county with an unemployment rate, as 
        determined on the basis the most recent data available from the 
        Bureau of Labor Statistics, of at least 1.1 times the national 
        unemployment rate for the period to which such data relate;
            (3) are certified by the Small Business Administration as a 
        qualified HUBZone small business; or
            (4) work in conjunction with a local Workforce Investment 
        Board (established pursuant to section 117 of the Workforce 
        Investment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2832)).

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    As used in this Act--
            (1) the term ``Secretary'' means the secretary of Labor;
            (2) the term ``information technology'' means the use of 
        hardware, software, services, and supporting infrastructure to 
        manage and deliver information using voice, data, and video by 
        means of a computer or data network or networks;
            (3) the term ``information technology center'' means a for 
        profit or not for profit business venture that offers 
        information technology services including application 
        maintenance and support, application development, help desk 
        services, personal computer maintenance and support, network 
        management, data center management, database management, server 
        management, or web hosting, and is designed to expand high tech 
        job opportunities in rural areas; and
            (4) the term ``rural area'' means a territory outside an 
        urbanized area or urban cluster, as such terms are defined by 
        the Census Bureau.

SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There is authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 for each of 
fiscal years 2007 through 2009 to carry out this Act.
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