[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 464 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 464

To amend the National and Community Service Act of 1990 to improve the 
    educational awards provided for national service, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 24, 2009

  Mr. Dodd (for himself, Mr. Cochran, Mr. Kennedy, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. 
  Casey, Mrs. Lincoln, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Rockefeller, and Mr. Nelson of 
   Florida) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the National and Community Service Act of 1990 to improve the 
    educational awards provided for national service, 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 ``AmeriCorps: Together Improving Our 
Nation Act''or as the ``ACTION Act''.

SEC. 2. AMOUNT OF NATIONAL SERVICE EDUCATIONAL AWARD.

    (a) In General.--Section 147(a) of the National and Community 
Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12603(a)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``equal to 90 percent of'' and all that 
        follows and inserting the following: ``equal to--
            ``(1) for fiscal year 2010, $6585; and
            ``(2) except as provided in paragraph (1), for each fiscal 
        year, an amount equal to the greater of--
                    ``(A) the average cost of tuition and fees 
                (determined under section 472 of the Higher Education 
                Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087ll) for the preceding fiscal 
                year for a full-time student at a 4-year public 
                institution of higher education that receives funds 
                under title IV of that Act (20 U.S.C. 1070 et seq.); 
                and
                    ``(B) the amount determined for the preceding 
                fiscal year under this subsection.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--Subsection (a) takes effect on October 1, 
2009.

SEC. 3. TREATMENT OF NATIONAL SERVICE EDUCATIONAL AWARD.

    (a) In General.--Section 147 of the National and Community Service 
Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12603) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
    ``(d) Treatment.--The amount of a national service educational 
award provided to an individual under this subtitle shall not be 
included in the gross income of the individual for purposes of the 
Internal Revenue Code of 1986.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply to national service educational awards disbursed after December 
31, 2009.

SEC. 4. NATIONAL SERVICE PROGRAMS TO IMPLEMENT PRIORITIES OF FEDERAL 
              AGENCIES.

    Section 121(b) of the National and Community Service Act of 1990 
(42 U.S.C. 12571(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(5) Priorities of federal agencies.--In carrying out this 
        subsection, the Corporation may enter into a contract or 
        cooperative agreement with another Federal agency to support a 
        national service program, carried out by the Federal agency, to 
        implement the priorities of the Federal agency (notwithstanding 
        section 122).''.

SEC. 5. CABINET LEVEL STATUS FOR CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER.

    (a) Executive Departments.--Section 101 of title 5, United States 
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``The Corporation for National and Community Service.''.
    (b) Compensation.--Section 193 of the National and Community 
Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12651c) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``level III'' and inserting ``level I''; 
        and
            (2) by striking ``section 5314'' and inserting ``section 
        5312''.
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