[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 7984-7985]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                           TEXT OF AMENDMENTS

  SA 648. Mr. HELMS proposed an amendment to amendment SA 574 proposed 
by Mr. Helms to the amendment SA 358 proposed by Mr. Jeffords to the 
bill (S. 1) to extend programs and activities under the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act of 1965; as follows:

       In lieu of the matter proposed to be inserted, insert the 
     following:

           TITLE __--EQUAL ACCESS TO PUBLIC SCHOOL FACILITIES

     SEC. __1. SHORT TITLE.

       This title may be cited as the ``Boy Scouts of America 
     Equal Access Act''.

     SEC. __2. EQUAL ACCESS.

       (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
     law, no funds made available through the Department of 
     Education shall be provided to any public elementary school, 
     public secondary school, local educational agency, or State 
     educational agency, if the school or a school served by the 
     agency--
       (1) has a designated open forum; and
       (2) denies equal access or a fair opportunity to meet to, 
     or discriminates against, any group affiliated with the Boy 
     Scouts of America or any other youth group that wishes to 
     conduct a meeting within that designated open forum, on the 
     basis of the membership or leadership criteria of the Boy 
     Scouts of America or of the youth group that prohibit the 
     acceptance of homosexuals, or individuals who reject the Boy 
     Scouts' or the youth group's oath of allegiance to God and 
     country, as members or leaders.
       (b) Termination of Assistance and Other Action.--
       (1) Departmental action.--The Secretary is authorized and 
     directed to effectuate subsection (a) by issuing, and 
     securing compliance with, rules or orders with respect to a 
     public school or agency that receives funds made available 
     through the Department of Education and that denies equal 
     access, or a fair opportunity to meet, or discriminates, as 
     described in subsection (a).
       (2) Procedure.--The Secretary shall issue and secure 
     compliance with the rules or orders, under paragraph (1), in 
     a manner consistent with the procedure used by a Federal 
     department or agency under section 602 of the Civil Rights 
     Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d-1).

[[Page 7985]]

       (3) Judicial review.--Any action taken by the Secretary 
     under paragraph (1) shall be subject to the judicial review 
     described in section 603 of that Act (42 U.S.C. 2000d-2). Any 
     person aggrieved by the action may obtain that judicial 
     review in the manner, and to the extent, provided in section 
     603 of that Act.
       (c) Definitions and Rule.--
       (1) Definitions.--In this section:
       (A) Elementary school; local educational agency; secondary 
     school; state educational agency.--The terms ``elementary 
     school'', ``local educational agency'', ``secondary school'', 
     and ``State educational agency'' have the meanings given the 
     terms in section 3 of the Elementary and Secondary Education 
     Act of 1965.
       (B) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
     of Education, acting through the Assistant Secretary for 
     Civil Rights of the Department of Education.
       (C) Youth group.--The term ``youth group'' means any group 
     or organization intended to serve young people under the age 
     of 21.
       (2) Rule.--For purposes of this section, an elementary 
     school or secondary school has a designated open forum 
     whenever the school involved grants an offering to or 
     opportunity for 1 or more youth or community groups to meet 
     on school premises or in school facilities before or after 
     the hours during which attendance at the school is 
     compulsory.

     SEC. __3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

       This title takes effect 1 day after the date of enactment 
     of this Act.

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