Congressional Award Program Reauthorization Act of 2009

by the 111th Congress of the United States

111^TH UNITED STATES CONGRESS
2^ND SESSION

An Act
To reauthorize the Congressional Award Act (2 U.S.C. 801 et seq.), and for other purposes.

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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 “Congressional Award Program Reauthorization Act of 2009”.

Sec. 2. Congressional Award Program.

(a) Implementation and presentation.—Section 102 of the Congressional Award Act (2 U.S.C. 802) is amended—

(1) in the matter following subsection (b)(5), by striking “under paragraph (3)”; and

(2) in subsection (c), in the second sentence, by striking “during” and inserting “in connection with”.

(b) Terms of appointment and reappointments.—Section 103 of the Congressional Award Act (2 U.S.C. 803) is amended by striking subsection (b) and inserting the following:

“(b) Terms of appointed members; reappointment.—

“(1) Appointed members of the Board shall continue to serve at the pleasure of the officer by whom they are appointed, and (unless reappointed under paragraph (2)) shall serve for a term of 4 years.

“(2)(A) Subject to the limitations in subparagraph (B), members of the Board may be reappointed, except that no member may serve more than 2 full consecutive terms. Members may be reappointed to 2 full consecutive terms after being appointed to fill a vacancy on the Board.

“(B) Members of the Board shall not be subject to the limitation on reappointment in subparagraph (A) during their period of service as Chairman of the Board and may be reappointed to an additional full term after termination of such Chairmanship.

“(3)(A) Notwithstanding paragraph (1) or (2), the term of each member of the Board shall begin on October 1 of the even numbered year which would otherwise apply with one-half of the Board positions having terms which begin in each even numbered year.

“(B) Subparagraph (A) shall apply to appointments made to the Board on or after the date of enactment of the Congressional Award Program Reauthorization Act of 2009.”.

(c) Requirements regarding financial operations.—Section 104(c) of the Congressional Award Act (2 U.S.C. 804(c)) is amended—

(1) in paragraph (1), in the third sentence, by striking “, in any calendar year,” and inserting “in any fiscal year”; and

(2) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the following:

“(2)(A) The Comptroller General of the United States shall determine for each fiscal year whether the Director has substantially complied with paragraph (1). The findings made by the Comptroller General under the preceding sentence shall be included in the reports submitted under section 107(b).

“(B) If the Director fails to substantially comply with paragraph (1), the Board shall instruct the Director to take such actions as may be necessary to correct such deficiencies, and shall remove and replace the Director if such deficiencies are not promptly corrected.”.

(d) Funding and expenditures.—Section 106(a) of the Congressional Award Act (2 U.S.C. 806(a)) is amended by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the following:

“(1) the Board shall carry out its functions and make expenditures with—

“(A) such resources as are available to the Board from sources other than the Federal Government; and

“(B) funds awarded in any grant program administered by a Federal agency in accordance with the law establishing that grant program.”.

(e) Statewide Congressional Award Councils.—Section 106(c) of the Congressional Award Act (2 U.S.C. 806(c)) is amended by striking paragraph (4) and inserting the following:

“(4) Each Statewide Council established under this section may receive contributions, and use such contributions for the purposes of the Program. The Board shall adopt appropriate financial management methods in order to ensure the proper accounting of these funds. Each Statewide Council shall comply with subsections (a), (d), (e), and (h) governing the Board.”.

(f) Contracting and use of funds for scholarships.—Section 106 of the Congressional Award Act (2 U.S.C. 806) is amended—

(1) in subsection (d), by inserting “to be” after “expenditure is”; and

(2) in subsection (e)(1)(A), by inserting “or for scholarships” after “local program”.

(g) Nonprofit corporation.—Section 106 of the Congressional Award Act (2 U.S.C. 806) is amended by striking subsection (i) and inserting the following:

“(i)(1) The Board shall provide for the incorporation of a nonprofit corporation to be known as the Congressional Award Foundation (together with any subsidiary nonprofit corporations determined desirable by the Board, collectively referred to in this title as the ‘Corporation’) for the sole purpose of assisting the Board to carry out the Congressional Award Program, and shall delegate to the Corporation such duties as it considers appropriate, including the employment of personnel, expenditure of funds, and the incurrence of financial or other contractual obligations.

“(2) The articles of incorporation of the Congressional Award Foundation shall provide that—

“(A) the members of the Board of Directors of the Foundation shall be the members of the Board, with up to 24 additional voting members appointed by the Board, and the Director who shall serve as a nonvoting member; and

“(B) the extent of the authority of the Foundation shall be the same as that of the Board.

“(3) No director, officer, or employee of any corporation established under this subsection may receive compensation, travel expenses, or benefits from both the Corporation and the Board.”.

(h) Termination.—

(1) In General.—Section 108 of the Congressional Award Act (2 U.S.C. 808) is amended by striking “October 1, 2009” and inserting “October 1, 2013”.

(2) Effective Date.—This subsection shall take effect as of October 1, 2009.

Approved July 7, 2010

Legislative History

• S. 2865

• CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 156 (2010):
  • March 17, considered and passed Senate.
  • June 23, considered and passed House.