Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions
Floor Speech
65
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 ``Mentoring to Succeed Act of 2023''. SEC. 2. PURPOSE.
The purpose of this Act is to make assistance available for school-based mentoring programs for at-risk students in order to--
(1) establish, expand, or support school-based mentoring programs;
(2) assist at-risk students in middle school and high school in developing cognitive and social-emotional skills; and
(3) prepare such at-risk students for success in high school, postsecondary education, and the workforce. SEC. 3. SCHOOL-BASED MENTORING PROGRAM.
Part C of title I of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (20 U.S.C. 2351 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: ``SEC. 136. DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS FOR SCHOOL-BASED MENTORING PROGRAMS.
``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) At-risk student.--The term `at-risk student' means a student who--
``(A) is failing academically or at risk of dropping out of school;
``(B) is pregnant or a parent;
``(C) is a gang member;
``(D) is a child or youth in foster care or a youth who has been emancipated from foster care, but is still enrolled in high school;
``(E) is or has recently been a homeless child or youth;
``(F) is chronically absent;
``(G) has changed schools 3 or more times in the past 6 months;
``(H) has come in contact with the juvenile justice system in the past;
``(I) has a history of multiple suspensions or disciplinary actions;
``(J) is an English learner;
``(K) has one or both parents incarcerated;
``(L) has experienced one or more adverse childhood experiences, traumatic events, or toxic stressors, as assessed through an evidence-based screening;
``(M) lives in a high-poverty area with a high rate of community violence;
``(N) has a disability; or
``(O) shows signs of alcohol or drug misuse or abuse or has a parent or guardian who is struggling with substance abuse.
``(2) Disability.--The term `disability' has the meaning given the term for purposes of section 602(3) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1401(3)).
``(3) Eligible entity.--The term `eligible entity'--
``(A) means a high-need local educational agency, high-need school, or local government entity; and
``(B) may include a partnership between an entity described in subparagraph (A) and a nonprofit, community-based, or faith-based organization, or institution of higher education.
``(4) English learner.--The term `English learner' has the meaning given the term in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).
``(5) Foster care.--The term `foster care' has the meaning given the term in section 1355.20(a) of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regulation).
``(6) High-need local educational agency.--The term `high- need local educational agency' means a local educational agency that serves at least one high-need school.
``(7) High-need school.--The term `high-need school' has the meaning given the term in section 2211(b) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6631(b)).
``(8) Homeless children and youths.--The term `homeless children and youths' has the meaning given the term in section 725 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11434a).
``(9) School-based mentoring.--The term `school-based mentoring' means a structured, managed, evidenced-based program conducted in partnership with teachers, administrators, school psychologists, school social workers or counselors, and other school staff, in which at-risk students are appropriately matched with screened and trained professional or volunteer mentors who provide guidance, support, and encouragement, involving meetings, group-based sessions, and educational and workforce-related activities on a regular basis to prepare at-risk students for success in high school, postsecondary education, and the workforce.
``(b) School-based Mentoring Competitive Grant Program.--
``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall award grants on a competitive basis to eligible entities to establish, expand, or support school-based mentoring programs that--
``(A) are designed to assist at-risk students in high-need schools in developing cognitive skills and promoting social- emotional learning to prepare them for success in high school, postsecondary education, and the workforce by linking them with mentors who--
``(i) have received mentor training, including on trauma- informed practices, youth engagement, cultural competency, and social-emotional learning; and
``(ii) have been screened using appropriate reference checks and criminal background checks, in accordance with the requirements of paragraph (3)(B)(v)(ii);
``(B) provide coaching and technical assistance to mentors in each such mentoring program;
``(C) seek to--
``(i) improve the academic achievement of at-risk students;
``(ii) reduce dropout rates and absenteeism and improve school engagement of at-risk students and their families;
``(iii) reduce juvenile justice involvement of at-risk students;
``(iv) foster positive relationships between at-risk students and their peers, teachers, other adults, and family members;
``(v) develop the workforce readiness skills of at-risk students by exploring paths to employment, including encouraging students with disabilities to explore transition services; and
``(vi) increase the participation of at-risk students in community service activities; and
``(D) encourage at-risk students to set goals and plan for their futures, including making plans and identifying goals for postsecondary education and the workforce.
``(2) Duration.--The Secretary shall award grants under this section for a period not to exceed 5 years.
``(3) Application.--To receive a grant under this section, an eligible entity shall submit to the Secretary an application that includes--
``(A) a needs assessment that includes baseline data on the measures described in paragraph (6)(A)(ii); and
``(B) a plan to meet the requirements of paragraph (1), including--
``(i) the targeted outcomes, mentee age and eligibility, mentor type, and meeting frequency for the program;
``(ii) the number of mentor-student matches proposed to be established and maintained annually under the program;
``(iii) the capacity and expertise of the program to serve children and youth in a way that is responsive to children and youth of color, expectant and parenting youth, indigenous youth, youth who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, or queer, and youth with disabilities;
``(iv) actions taken to ensure that the design of the program reflects input from youth;
``(v) an assurance that mentors supported under the program are appropriately screened and have demonstrated a willingness to comply with aspects of the mentoring program, including--
``(I) a written screening plan that includes all of the policies and procedures used to screen and select mentors, including eligibility requirements and preferences for such applicants;
``(II) a description of the methods to be used to conduct criminal background checks on all prospective mentors, and the methods in place to exclude mentors with convictions directly related to child safety that occur during the mentor's participation in the program or in the 10-year period preceding the mentor's participation; and
``(III) a description of the methods to be used to ensure that the mentors are willing and able to serve as a mentor on a long-term, consistent basis as defined in the application.
``(4) Priority.--In selecting grant recipients, the Secretary shall give priority to applicants that--
``(A) serve children and youth with the greatest need living in high-poverty, high-crime areas, or rural areas, or who attend schools with high rates of community violence;
``(B) provide at-risk students with opportunities for postsecondary education preparation and career development, including--
``(i) job training, professional development, work shadowing, internships, networking, resume writing and review, interview preparation, transition services for students with disabilities, application assistance and visits to institutions of higher education, and leadership development through community service; and
``(ii) partnerships with the private sector and local businesses to provide internship and career exploration activities and resources;
``(C) seek to provide match lengths between at-risk students and mentors for at least 1 academic year; and
``(D) consult and engage youth in the development, design, and implementation of the program.
``(5) Use of funds.--An eligible entity that receives a grant under this section may use such funds to--
``(A) develop and carry out regular training for mentors, including on--
``(i) the impact of adverse childhood experiences;
``(ii) trauma-informed practices and interventions;
``(iii) supporting homeless children and youths;
``(iv) supporting children and youth in foster care or youth who have been emancipated from foster care, but are still enrolled in high school;
``(v) cultural competency;
``(vi) meeting all appropriate privacy and confidentiality requirements for students, including students in foster care;
``(vii) working in coordination with a public school system;
``(viii) positive youth development and engagement practices; and
``(ix) disability inclusion practices to ensure access and participation by students with disabilities;
``(B) recruit, screen, match, train, and compensate mentors;
``(C) hire staff to perform or support the objectives of the school-based mentoring program;
``(D) provide inclusive and accessible youth engagement activities, such as--
``(i) enrichment field trips to cultural destinations; and
``(ii) career awareness activities, including job site visits, informational interviews, resume writing, interview preparation, and networking; and
``(iii) academic or postsecondary education preparation activities, including trade or vocational school visits, visits to institutions of higher education, and assistance in applying to institutions of higher education; and
``(E) conduct program evaluation, including by acquiring and analyzing the data described under paragraph (6).
``(6) Reporting requirements.--
``(A) In general.--Not later than 6 months after the end of each academic year during the grant period, an eligible entity receiving a grant under this section shall submit to the Secretary a report that includes--
``(i) the number of students and mentors, and the demographics of the students and mentors, who participated in the school-based mentoring program that was funded in whole or in part with the grant funds;
``(ii) data on the academic achievement, dropout rates, truancy, absenteeism, outcomes of arrests for violent crime, summer employment, and postsecondary education enrollment of students in the program;
``(iii) the number of group sessions and number of one-to- one contacts between students in the program and their mentors;
``(iv) the average attendance of students enrolled in the program;
``(v) the number of students with disabilities connected to transition services;
``(vi) data on social-emotional development of students as assessed with a validated social-emotional assessment tool; and
``(vii) any other information that the Secretary may require to evaluate the success of the school-based mentoring program.
``(B) Student privacy.--An eligible entity shall ensure that the report submitted under subparagraph (A) is prepared in a manner that protects the privacy rights of each student in accordance with section 444 of the General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232g; commonly known as the `Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974').
``(7) Mentoring resources and community service coordination.--
``(A) Technical assistance.--The Secretary shall work with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to--
``(i) refer grantees under this section to the National Mentoring Resource Center to obtain resources on best practices and research related to mentoring and to request no-cost training and technical assistance; and
``(ii) provide grantees under this section with information regarding transitional services for at-risk students returning from correctional facilities and transition services for students with disabilities.
``(B) Coordination.--The Secretary shall, to the extent possible, coordinate with the Corporation for National and Community Service, including through entering into an interagency agreement or a memorandum of understanding, to support mentoring and community service-related activities for at-risk students.
``(c) Authorization of Funds.--There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2028.''. SEC. 4. INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES STUDY ON SCHOOL-BASED MENTORING PROGRAMS.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Education, acting through the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences, shall conduct a study to--
(1) identify successful school-based mentoring programs and effective strategies for administering and monitoring such programs;
(2) evaluate the role of mentors in promoting cognitive development and social-emotional learning to enhance academic achievement and to improve workforce readiness; and
(3) evaluate the effectiveness of the grant program under section 136 of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006, as added by section 3, on student academic outcomes and youth career development.
(b) Timing.--Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Education, acting through the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences, shall submit the results of the study described in subsection (a) to the appropriate congressional committees. ______
By Mr. THUNE (for himself, Ms. Smith, Mr. Rounds, and Mr. Tester):
S. 70. A bill to require the Bureau of Indian Affairs to process and complete all mortgage packages associated with residential and business mortgages on Indian land by certain deadlines, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Indian Affairs.
79
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 ``Interagency Patent Coordination and Improvement Act of 2023''. SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Decisions by the United States Patent and Trademark Office relating to patents may implicate, or have relevance to, information housed at or involving other Federal agencies.
(2) Entities submitting patent applications to the United States Patent and Trademark Office may also submit information to, or share information with, other Federal agencies, necessitating accuracy and consistency in those representations.
(3) Research has shown that patent examiners may benefit from additional information that is housed at, or is available to, Federal agencies other than the United States Patent and Trademark Office in order to assess prior art and the state of science and technology.
(4) The Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office is encouraged to work with other Federal agencies. SEC. 3. REPORT BY UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE.
Not later than 4 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office shall submit to the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives a report that contains--
(1) a description of the frequency with which--
(A) information is provided by the Food and Drug Administration to the United States Patent and Trademark Office through the Interagency Task Force on Patents established under section 15 of title 35, United States Code, as added by section 4(a) of this Act, or under processes established by that Task Force; and
(B) the information described in subparagraph (A) is used in patent examinations;
(2) an identification of which methods of providing information, as described in paragraph (1)(A), and types of information so shared, are most useful to patent examiners;
(3) any recommendations for changes to be made by Congress to the mandate, funding, or operations of the Task Force described in paragraph (1)(A); and
(4) an identification of other Federal agencies with which the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office should explore opportunities for coordination that are similar to those undertaken with the Food and Drug Administration through the activities of the Task Force described in paragraph (1)(A). SEC. 4. INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE ON PATENTS.
(a) In General.--Chapter 1 of title 35, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in section 2(c), by adding at the end the following:
``(6)(A) In exercising the Director's powers and duties under this section relating to patents, and decisions or actions involving patents, for human drugs and biological products, the Director shall, through the Interagency Task Force on Patents established under section 15, consult with the Commissioner of Food and Drugs in the manner described in that section.
``(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), the term `decisions or actions involving patents' means decisions or actions taken with respect to patents under this title.''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following: ``Sec. 15. Interagency Task Force on Patents
``(a) Establishment.--There is established an interagency task force, to be known as the Interagency Task Force on Patents (referred to in this section as the `task force'), to coordinate efforts between the Director and the Commissioner of Food and Drugs (referred to in this section as the `Commissioner') regarding communication about, evaluation of, and effective implementation of the activities of the Office and the Food and Drug Administration with respect to patents, and decisions or actions involving patents (as defined in section 2(c)(6)(B)), for human drugs and biological products.
``(b) Memorandum of Understanding.--The Director and the Commissioner shall enter into a memorandum of understanding, or update an existing memorandum of understanding, for the purposes of implementing and carrying out the duties of the task force.
``(c) Membership.--The task force shall be comprised of employees of the Office, who shall be appointed by the Director, and employees of the Food and Drug Administration, who shall be appointed by the Commissioner, who have appropriate expertise and decision-making authority regarding operational, administrative, technical, medical, pharmacological, clinical, and scientific matters to carry out the functions of the task force.
``(d) Activities.--The task force shall carry out the following functions regarding interagency coordination to promote reciprocal access of information:
``(1) Sharing information on the general processes of the Office and the Food and Drug Administration, what each such agency considers in its respective review of applications, and how each such agency evaluates those applications, which may be undertaken through routine and ongoing meetings, workshops, and training sessions.
``(2) Sharing information on new approvals of patents, human drugs and biological products, new technologies and prior art (as appropriate on a case-by-case basis), and scientific trends and developments.
``(3) Establishing a process that requires--
``(A) the Director to request from the Commissioner (and the Commissioner to provide to the Director, upon receiving such a request)--
``(i) appropriate information for use by employees of the Office with responsibility to examine patent applications under section 131 (referred to in this section as `patent examiners') regarding when certain information relating to a human drug or biological product approval, which may include updates to a label or newly approved indications, is made publicly available, including when such information is posted online; and
``(ii) appropriate access for patent examiners to relevant sources of product application, approval, patent, and labeling information or communications between the Food and Drug Administration and the human drug or biological product sponsors that may not currently be subject to public disclosure, as appropriate and only to the extent necessary for the Office to carry out the responsibilities of the Office, such as ensuring accurate representations and access to information on whether the claimed invention that would be the subject of the patent was on sale before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, as described in section 102(a)(1); and
``(B) the Office to assist the Food and Drug Administration in its ministerial role of listing patents.
``(4) Establishing a process to ensure that, in appropriate circumstances, at the request of the Director, the Commissioner shall consult with or otherwise furnish specific, available information to the Office with respect to certain applications, responses, or affidavits after rejections in order to assist patent examiners in carrying out the duties of those patent examiners.
``(e) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in subsection (d)(3)(B) shall be construed as--
``(1) directing the Office to interfere with, delay, or supersede the ministerial function of the Food and Drug Administration of listing patents;
``(2) indicating the position of the Office regarding the ability to assert a patent in infringement litigation; or
``(3) changing the ministerial function of the Food and Drug Administration of listing patents.
``(f) Confidentiality.--
``(1) In general.--With respect to any record or other information of the Food and Drug Administration or the Office that is confidential, either such agency may share any such information with the other agency in furtherance of the activities described in this section, which shall remain subject to such protections as if the information were held by the Food and Drug Administration.
``(2) Protocols.--
``(A) In general.--The task force shall establish appropriate protocols to safeguard confidentiality and prevent the inappropriate disclosure of information when sharing information between the Office and the Food and Drug Administration.
``(B) Contents.--The protocols established under subparagraph (A) shall provide that--
``(i) before sharing any information described in paragraph (1), the sponsor of the human drug or biological product to which that information relates shall be provided notice of that sharing by the applicable agency and with a period of 30 days to consult with the agency sharing that information; and
``(ii) the Director shall, in order to protect against the inadvertent disclosure of information, maintain any information shared with the Director by the Commissioner separate from pending patent applications and establish procedures for the identification of confidential information.
``(C) Potential remedies.--In establishing protocols under this paragraph, the task force shall identify appropriate remedies for any potential injury suffered when confidential information is made available, including inadvertently, through the sharing of information described in this subsection.
``(3) Rule of construction.--Nothing in this subsection may be construed as superseding any other remedy available for the unauthorized disclosure of confidential information.''.
(b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 1 of title 35, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: ``15. Interagency Task Force on Patents.''.
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