Healthy Relationships Act of 2015

Healthy Relationships Act of 2015

This bill authorizes the Health Resources and Services Administration to award grants for qualified sexual risk avoidance education for youth and their parents.

The unambiguous message that postponing sexual activity is the optimal sexual health behavior for youth must be the primary emphasis and context for each topic covered by the education. The education must be age appropriate, medically accurate, and evidence based.

The education must address specified topics, including:

• the benefits associated with personal responsibility, success sequencing (sequential progression through: completing school, securing a job, and marrying before bearing children), goal setting, healthy decision making, and a focus on the future;
• the research-based advantage of reserving sexual activity for marriage;
• the skills needed to resist the pervasive, sex-saturated culture;
• the foundational components of healthy relationships; and
• how to avoid sexual coercion, dating violence, and risk behaviors, such as drugs, alcohol, and the misuse of social media.

Priority in awarding grants must be given to programs serving youth in middle school and high school that will promote parent-child communication regarding healthy sexual decision making.

[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 453 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 453

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

                            January 21, 2015

Mr. Hultgren (for himself, Mr. Lipinski, Mr. Pitts, Mr. Neugebauer, Mr. 
     Miller of Florida, Mr. Mulvaney, Mr. Fincher, Mr. Mullin, Mr. 
 Huelskamp, Mr. Johnson of Ohio, Mr. Salmon, Mr. Nunnelee, Mr. Jones, 
  Mr. Lamborn, Mr. Meadows, Mr. Pompeo, and Mr. Gowdy) 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 ``Healthy Relationships Act of 2015''.

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 primary emphasis and context for each topic covered 
        through the funding shall be the unambiguous message that 
        postponing sexual activity is the optimal sexual health 
        behavior for youth.
            (2) The education shall be medically accurate.
            (3) The education shall be an evidence-based approach.
            (4) The education shall be age-appropriate.
            (5) The education shall thoroughly address each of the 
        following:
                    (A) The holistic individual and societal benefits 
                associated with personal responsibility, success 
                sequencing, self-regulation, goal setting, healthy 
                decisionmaking, and a focus on the future.
                    (B) The research-based advantage of reserving 
                sexual activity for marriage, as associated with 
                poverty prevention and optimal physical and emotional 
                health for all youth, regardless of previous sexual 
                experience.
                    (C) The skills needed to resist the pervasive, sex-
                saturated culture that portrays teenage sexual activity 
                as an expected norm, with few risks or negative 
                consequences.
                    (D) The foundational components of healthy 
                relationships and their impact on the formation of 
                healthy marriages and safe and stable families.
                    (E) How to avoid sexual coercion, dating violence, 
                and risk behaviors, such as drugs, alcohol, and the 
                misuse of social media.
            (6) The education shall ensure that any information 
        provided on contraception--
                    (A) emphasizes the superior health benefits of 
                sexual delay; and
                    (B) does not exaggerate the effectiveness of 
                contraception in preventing the physical and non-
                physical consequences of teenage sexual activity.
    (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) serves youth throughout the middle and high school 
        grades; and
            (2) will promote parent-child communication regarding 
        healthy sexual decisionmaking.
    (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 framework integrating 
                research findings with practical implementation 
                relevant to the field;
                    (B) matches the needs and desired outcomes for the 
                intended audience; and
                    (C) if effectively implemented, 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 risk avoidance'' means voluntarily 
        refraining from sexual activity.
            (5) The term ``sexual activity'' means genital contact or 
        sexual stimulation for the purpose of arousal, including sexual 
        intercourse.
            (6) The term ``success sequencing'' means increasing the 
        chance of avoiding poverty by means of progression through the 
        following behavorial benchmarks in the following sequence: 
        completing school, securing a job, and marrying before bearing 
        children.
    (e) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            (1) In general.--To carry out this Act, there is authorized 
        to be appropriated $110,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2016 
        through 2020. 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 
                administrative costs, at least 40 percent shall be used 
                for training and technical assistance by qualified 
                organizations whose--
                            (i) sole focus is the development and 
                        advancement of sexual risk avoidance;
                            (ii) have expertise in theory-based sexual 
                        risk avoidance curriculum development and 
                        implementation;
                            (iii) have direct 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 field.
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