[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3622 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3622

 To establish a grant program to promote the conservation of the Great 
                     Lakes and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

           September 26 (legislative day, September 17), 2008

   Mr. Durbin (for himself, Mr. Levin, and Mr. Brown) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                 Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To establish a grant program to promote the conservation of the Great 
                     Lakes and for other purposes.

    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 ``Great Lakes Conservation Education 
Act''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to establish a competitive grant program 
to increase knowledge about, raise awareness of, and educate the public 
on the importance of conservation of the Great Lakes in order to 
improve the overall health of the Great Lakes.

SEC. 3. GREAT LAKES EDUCATION GRANTS.

    (a) Authority To Award.--The Secretary of Commerce is authorized to 
award grants to eligible entities to carry out eligible activities.
    (b) Eligible Entity Defined.--In this Act, the term ``eligible 
entity'' means an educational entity or a nonprofit nongovernmental 
organization, consortium, or other entity that the Secretary of 
Commerce finds has a demonstrated record of success in carrying out 
conservation education or outreach programs.
    (c) Eligible Activity Defined.--In this Act, the term ``eligible 
activity'' means an activity carried out in a State, or across multiple 
States, that is adjacent to one of the Great Lakes that provides hands-
on or real world experiences to increase knowledge about, raise 
awareness of, or provide education regarding the importance of 
conservation of the Great Lakes and on actions individuals can take to 
promote such conservation, including--
            (1) educational activities for students that are consistent 
        with elementary and secondary learning standards established by 
        a State;
            (2) professional development activities for educators;
            (3) Great Lakes conservation activities that have been 
        identified by a State and adjacent States as a regional 
        priority; or
            (4) Great Lakes stewardship and place-based education 
        activities.
    (d) Use of Subcontractors.--An eligible entity awarded a grant 
under subsection (a) to carry out an eligible activity may utilize 
subcontractors to carry out such activity.

SEC. 4. REPORTS.

    (a) Reports From Grantees.--The Secretary of Commerce may require 
an eligible entity awarded a grant under section 3(a) to submit to the 
Secretary a report describing each activity that was carried out with 
the grant funds. The Secretary may require such report to include 
information on any subcontractor utilized by the eligible entity to 
carry out an activity.
    (b) Reports From the Secretary.--Not later than December 31, 2010, 
and once every 3 years thereafter, the Secretary of Commerce shall 
submit to Congress a report on the grant program authorized by section 
3(a). Each such report shall include a description--
            (1) of the eligible activities carried out with grants 
        awarded under section 3(a) during the previous fiscal year and 
        an assessment of the success of such activities;
            (2) of the type of education and outreach programs carried 
        out with such grants, disaggregated by State; and
            (3) of the number of schools, and schools reached through a 
        formal partnership with an eligible entity awarded such a 
        grant, involved in carrying out such programs.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There is authorized to be appropriated $15,000,000 for each fiscal 
year to carry out this Act.
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