[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2874 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2874

To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through 
the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, 
 to award grants on a competitive basis to public and private entities 
to provide qualified sexual risk avoidance education to youth and their 
                                parents.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 8, 2011

 Mr. Hultgren introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through 
the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, 
 to award grants on a competitive basis to public and private entities 
to provide qualified sexual risk avoidance education to youth and their 
                                parents.

    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 ``Abstinence Education Reallocation 
Act of 2011''.

SEC. 2. SEXUAL RISK AVOIDANCE EDUCATION.

    (a) Grants.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting 
through the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services 
Administration, may award grants on a competitive basis to public and 
private entities to provide qualified sexual risk avoidance education 
to youth and their parents.
    (b) Qualified Sexual Risk Avoidance Education.--To qualify for 
funding under subsection (a), sexual risk avoidance education shall 
meet each of the following:
            (1) The education shall be age appropriate.
            (2) The education shall be medically accurate.
            (3) The education shall be an evidence-based approach.
            (4) The education shall have as its sole purpose teaching 
        of the skills and benefits of sexual abstinence as the optimal 
        sexual health behavior for youth.
            (5) The education shall include, consistent with paragraphs 
        (1) through (4), teaching of each of the following:
                    (A) The holistic health, economic, and societal 
                benefits that can be gained by refraining from 
                nonmarital sexual activity, through teaching practical 
                skills that promote self-regulation, goal setting, and 
                a focus on the future.
                    (B) The clear advantage of reserving human sexual 
                activity for marriage, as a key contributing factor in 
                the prevention of poverty and the preservation of 
                physical and emotional health, based on social science 
                research.
                    (C) The foundational components of a healthy 
                relationship and related research regarding the 
                individual, economic, and societal advantages of 
                bearing children within the context of a committed 
                marital relationship in order to form healthy marriages 
                and safe and stable families.
                    (D) The skills needed to resist the negative 
                influences of the pervasive sex-saturated culture that 
                presents teenage sexual activity as an expected norm, 
                with few risks or negative consequences.
                    (E) The understanding of how drugs, alcohol, and 
                the irresponsible use of social media can negatively 
                influence healthy sexual decision making and can 
                contribute to aggressive sexual behavior.
                    (F) A focused priority on the superior health 
                benefits of sexual abstinence, ensuring that any 
                information provided on contraception does not 
                exaggerate its effectiveness in preventing sexually 
                transmitted diseases and pregnancies.
    (c) Priority.--In awarding grants under subsection (a), the 
Secretary shall give priority to applicants proposing programs to 
provide qualified sexual risk avoidance education that--
            (1) will serve youth spanning ages 12 to 19; and
            (2) will promote protective benefits of parent-child 
        communication regarding healthy sexual decision making.
    (d) Definitions.--In this Act:
            (1) The term ``age appropriate'' means appropriate for the 
        general developmental and social maturity of the age group (as 
        opposed to the cognitive ability to understand a topic or the 
        atypical development of a small segment of the targeted 
        population).
            (2) The term ``evidence-based approach'' means an approach 
        that--
                    (A) has a clear theoretical base that integrates 
                research findings with practical implementation 
                expertise that is relevant to the field;
                    (B) matches the needs and desired outcomes for the 
                intended audience; and
                    (C) if implemented well, will demonstrate improved 
                outcomes for the targeted population.
            (3) The term ``medically accurate'' means referenced to 
        peer-reviewed research by medical, educational, scientific, 
        governmental, or public health publications, organizations, or 
        agencies.
            (4) The term ``sexual abstinence'' means voluntarily 
        refraining from sexual activity.
            (5) The term ``sexual activity'' means genital contact or 
        sexual stimulation including, but not limited to, sexual 
        intercourse.
    (e) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            (1) In general.--There is authorized to be appropriated 
        $110,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2012 through 2016 to 
        carry out this Act. Amounts authorized to be appropriated by 
        the preceding sentence shall be derived exclusively from 
        amounts in the Prevention and Public Health Fund established by 
        section 4002 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 
        (42 U.S.C. 300u-11).
            (2) Federal administrative costs.--Of the amount authorized 
        to be appropriated by paragraph (1) for a fiscal year--
                    (A) not more than $1,000,000 are authorized to be 
                used for Federal administrative costs; and
                    (B) of the amount used by the Secretary for such 
                costs, at least 40 percent shall be used for training 
                and technical assistance by qualified experts who--
                            (i) have singular experience in providing 
                        programmatic support in abstinence education;
                            (ii) have expertise in theory-based 
                        abstinence education curriculum development and 
                        implementation;
                            (iii) have experience in developing sexual 
                        risk avoidance evaluation instruments; and
                            (iv) can offer technical assistance and 
                        training on a wide range of topics relevant to 
                        the sexual risk avoidance (or abstinence 
                        education) field.
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