[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3955 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3955

  To provide for educational partnerships between science museums and 
                         National Laboratories.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 24, 2007

 Mr. Lipinski (for himself, Mrs. Biggert, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Mr. 
  Kirk, Mr. Costello, and Mr. Hastert) introduced the following bill; 
     which was referred to the Committee on Science and Technology

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To provide for educational partnerships between science museums and 
                         National Laboratories.

    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 ``Science Museum and National 
Laboratory Partnership Demonstration Act''.

SEC. 2. SCIENCE EDUCATION PARTNERSHIPS.

    (a) Authority.--The Secretary of Energy is authorized to award on a 
competitive basis up to 5 grants to partnerships for the purposes of--
            (1) increasing public understanding of the scientific work 
        occurring at the National Laboratories;
            (2) developing exhibits and informal education programs 
        featuring advances in physical sciences; and
            (3) increasing public understanding of science, technology, 
        engineering, and mathematics disciplines.
    (b) Qualifications.--Grants shall be awarded under this section 
only to partnerships that include science museums, or consortia 
thereof--
            (1) serving no fewer than 1,000,000 visitors annually; and
            (2) with an existing partnership with one or more National 
        Laboratories.
    (c) Grant Allocation.--Science museums or consortia thereof may not 
receive more than 60 percent of a grant award for any fiscal year, with 
the remaining funds allocated to National Laboratory partners.
    (d) Definitions.--In this Act--
            (1) the term ``National Laboratory'' has the meaning given 
        that term in section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 
        U.S.C. 15801);
            (2) the term ``partnership'' means as an agreement among a 
        science museum (or consortia thereof) and one or more 
        Department of Energy National Laboratories; and
            (3) the term ``science museum'' means an accredited 
        nonprofit museum with a mission to educate and inspire the 
        public about science, scientific advancement, and careers in 
        science.
    (e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to the Secretary of Energy for carrying out this Act 
$20,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.
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