110 HR 3637 IH: Higher Education Sustainability Act of U.S. House of Representatives 2007-09-24 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

I 110th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 3637 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES September 24, 2007 Mr. Blumenauer (for himself, Mr. Ehlers, Mr. Wu, and Mr. Boucher) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To direct the Secretary of Education to provide grants to establish and evaluate sustainability programs, charged with developing and implementing integrated environmental, economic and social sustainability initiatives, and to direct the Secretary of Education to convene a summit of higher education experts in the area of sustainability.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Higher Education Sustainability Act of 2007.

2.

Findings and purposes

(a)

Findings

The Congress finds the following: (1)The environmental life-support systems vital to the Nation’s economic and social prosperity are increasingly at risk. (2)The Nation's institutions of higher education have a unique role to play in fostering new knowledge, evaluating policies, and discovering new technologies to address the persistent and often linked environmental, social, and economic problems that exist. (3)Achieving more sustainable environmental, economic and social systems will require new research, education and technology development, and innovative policy approaches that are flexible and use market mechanisms while engaging relevant stakeholders from the private and public sectors. (4)For the Nation to remain competitive in this global world of increasingly limited natural resources, higher education institutions need to take immediate steps to create new research, education and technology development that reflect the framework of sustainability. (5)The Nation’s higher education institutions also are uniquely positioned to prepare the future labor force for addressing threats to, and seeking opportunities for economic, environmental, and social sustainability. (6)The Nation’s higher education institutions are places where approaches that integrate the environmental, social and economic dimensions can be designed, tested, and refined for application to real world settings in collaboration with industry, government and the nonprofit sector. (7)The Nation’s higher education institutions are uniquely situated to be models of sustainable management and operations that can provide examples to industry and government of operational strategies that integrate the basic principles of environmental, economic, and social sustainability. (8)Numerous State governors, including those of Oregon, Washington, New Jersey, and California have issued executive orders for the development of State sustainability plans. (9)Hundreds of college campuses have already made commitments to sustainable practices and lessening their carbon footprint, but lack a cohesive plan. (10)Additionally, many campuses now offer courses on sustainability, but no comprehensive system exists to evaluate and compare colleges and universities in terms of overall sustainability related academic programs and practices. (b)

Purposes

The purposes of this Act are— (1)to provide support to faculty, staff, and students at institutions of higher education to establish administrative and academic sustainability programs on campus and a means to measure their effectiveness; (2)to promote and enhance research by faculty and students at institutions of higher education in sustainability practices and innovations that assist and improve sustainability; and (3)to provide support to institutions of higher education to work with community partners from the business, government, and nonprofit sectors to design and implement sustainability programs for application in the community and workplace.

3.

Establishment of program

Title VII of the Higher Education Act of 1965 is amended by adding at the end the following new part: E

University Sustainability Programs

1

Sustainability Planning Grants

771.

Program authorized

(a)

In general

The Secretary shall, from the funds appropriated under section 776, make grants to eligible entities to establish sustainability programs to design and implement sustainability practices including in the areas of energy management, green building, waste management, purchasing, transportation, and toxics management, and other aspects of sustainability that integrate campus operations with multidisciplinary academic programs and are applicable to the private and government sectors. (b)

Period of grant

The provision of payments under a grant under subsection (a) may extend over a period of not more than 4 fiscal years. (c)

Definition of eligible entities

For purposes of this part, the term eligible entity means— (1)an institution of higher education that grants 2 or 4-year undergraduate degrees, or masters and doctoral degrees, or both; or (2)a non-profit consortia, association, alliance, or collaboration operating in partnership with one or more institutions of higher education that received funds for the implementation of work associated with sustainability programs under this part.

772.

Applications

(a)

In general

To receive a grant under section 771(a), an eligible entity shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in such form, and containing such information as the Secretary may reasonably require. (b)

Assurances

Such application shall include assurances that the eligible entity— (1)has developed or shall develop a plan, including an evaluation component, for the program component established pursuant to section 773; (2)shall use Federal funds received from a grant under section 771(a) to supplement, not supplant, non-Federal funds that would otherwise be available for projects funded under such section; (3)shall provide, with respect to any fiscal year in which such entity receives funds from a grant under section 771(a), non-Federal funds or an in-kind contribution in an amount equal to 20 percent of funds from such grant, for the purpose of carrying out the program component established in section 773; and (4)shall collaborate with business, government, and the nonprofit sectors in the development and implementation of its sustainability plan.

773.

Use of funds

(a)

Individual institutions

Grants made under section 771 may be used by an eligible entity that is an individual institution of higher education for the following purposes: (1)To develop and implement administrative and operations practices at institutions of higher education that test, model, and analyze principles of sustainability. (2)To establish multidisciplinary education, research, and outreach programs at institutions of higher education that address the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of sustainability. (3)To support research and teaching initiatives that focus on multidisciplinary and integrated environmental, economic, and social elements. (4)To establish initiatives in the areas of energy management, green building, waste management, purchasing, toxics management, transportation, and other aspects of sustainability. (5)To support student, faculty, and staff work at institutions of higher education to implement, research, and evaluate sustainable practices. (6)To establish sustainability literacy as a requirement for undergraduate and graduate degree programs. (7)To integrate sustainability curriculum in all programs of instruction, particularly in business, architecture, technology, manufacturing, engineering, and science programs. (b)

Partnerships

Grants made under section 771 may be used by an eligible entity that is a non-profit consortia, association, alliance, or collaboration operating as a partnership with one or more institutions of higher education for the following purposes: (1)To conduct faculty, staff and/or administrator training on the subjects of sustainability and institutional change. (2)To compile, evaluate and disseminate best practices, case studies, guidelines and standards. (3)To conduct efforts to engage external stakeholders such as business, alumni, and accrediting agencies in the process of building support for research, education and technology development for sustainability. (4)To conduct professional development programs for faculty in all disciplines to enable faculty to incorporate sustainability content in their courses. (5)To enable an appropriate non-profit consortia, association, alliance, or collaboration operating in partnership with an institution of higher education to create the analytical tools necessary for institutions of higher education to assess and measure their individual progress toward fully sustainable campus operations and fully integrating sustainability into the curriculum. (6)To develop educational benchmarks for institutions of higher education to determine the necessary rigor and effectiveness of academic sustainability programs.

774.

Reports

An eligible entity that receives a grant under section 771(a) shall submit to the Secretary, for each fiscal year in which the entity receives amounts from such grant, a report that describes the work conducted pursuant to section 773, research findings and publications, administrative savings experienced, and an evaluation of the program.

775.

Allocation requirement

The Secretary may not make grants under section 771(a) to any eligible entity in a total amount that is less than $250,000 or more than $2,000,000.

776.

Authorization of appropriations

(a)

In general

There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out section 771(a), $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2008 and such sums as may be necessary for each of the 5 succeeding fiscal years. (b)

Availability

Amounts appropriated under subsection (a) are authorized to remain available until expended.

2

Summit on sustainability

781.

Summit on sustainability

Not later than September 30, 2008, the Secretary of Education shall convene a summit of higher education experts working in the area of sustainable operations and programs, representatives from agencies of the Federal Government, and business and industry leaders to focus on efforts of national distinction that— (1)encourage faculty, staff, and students at institutions of higher education to establish administrative and academic sustainability programs on campus; (2)enhance research by faculty and students at institutions of higher education in sustainability practices and innovations that assist and improve sustainability; (3)encourage institutions of higher education to work with community partners from the business, government, and nonprofit sectors to design and implement sustainability programs for application in the community and workplace; (4)identify opportunities for partnerships involving institutions of higher education and the Federal Government to expand sustainable operations and academic programs focused on environmental and economic sustainability; and (5)charge the summit participants or steering committee to submit a set of recommendations for addressing sustainability through institutions of higher education.

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