Healthy Relationships Act of 2017
This bill authorizes the Administration for Children & Families of the Department of Health and Human Services to award grants to public and private entities for the exclusive purpose of providing qualified sexual risk avoidance education to youth and their parents.
Such education must address specified topics, including:
Priority in awarding grants must be given to applicants who propose sexual risk avoidance education programs that will regularly reinforce the sexual risk avoidance message in both the middle and high school grades and will promote parent-child communication on the benefits of avoiding all sexual risk.
[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2028 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
115th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2028
To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through
the Administration for Children & Families, to award grants on a
competitive basis to public and private entities to provide exclusively
education in sexual risk avoidance (meaning avoiding all sexual risk by
voluntarily refraining from nonmarital sexual activity).
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 6, 2017
Mr. Hultgren (for himself, Mr. LaHood, Mr. Banks of Indiana, Mr.
Aderholt, Mrs. Hartzler, Mr. Jody B. Hice of Georgia, and Mr. Babin)
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 Administration for Children & Families, to award grants on a
competitive basis to public and private entities to provide exclusively
education in sexual risk avoidance (meaning avoiding all sexual risk by
voluntarily refraining from nonmarital sexual activity).
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 2017''.
SEC. 2. SEXUAL RISK AVOIDANCE EDUCATION.
(a) Grants.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting
through the Administration for Children & Families (in this section
referred to as the ``Secretary''), may award grants on a competitive
basis to public and private entities for the exclusive purpose of
providing qualified sexual risk avoidance (in this section referred to
as ``SRA'') education to youth and their parents.
(b) Qualified SRA Education.--To receive funding for SRA education
under this section, an entity shall demonstrate to the Secretary each
of the following:
(1) The education--
(A) will be evidenced-based, meaning it will have a
clear theoretical framework integrating research
findings with practical implementation relevant to the
SRA field that matches the needs and desired outcomes
for the intended audience; and
(B) if effectively implemented, will give youth
improved life and health outcomes.
(2) The unambiguous and primary emphasis and context for
each topic covered by the education will be the message to
middle and high school students that avoiding nonmarital sexual
activity offers the best opportunity for optimal sexual health.
(3) The education will be medically accurate, meaning that
information will be referenced to peer reviewed publications by
educational, scientific, governmental, or health organizations.
(4) The education will be age-appropriate, meaning it will
be appropriate for the general developmental and social
maturity of the targeted age group (as opposed to the cognitive
ability to understand a topic, or the atypical maturation, of a
small segment of the targeted population).
(5) The education will thoroughly address each of the
following:
(A) The holistic individual and societal benefits
associated with personal responsibility, self-
regulation, goal setting, healthy decisionmaking, and a
focus on the future.
(B) The research-supported advantage of reserving
sexual activity for marriage, in order to improve the
future prospects and physical and emotional health of
youth, and helping sexually active students return to a
risk-free status. In this subparagraph, the terms
``sexual activity'' and ``sexually active'' refer to
any type of genital contact or sexual stimulation for
the purpose of arousal, including sexual intercourse.
(C) The increased likelihood of avoiding poverty
when youth implement the ``success sequence'' by
achieving three norms in sequence: complete school,
secure a full time job, and wait until at least 21
years of age to marry and have children.
(D) The skills needed to resist the harms
associated with pornography and the pervasive, sex-
saturated culture that portrays teenage sexual activity
as an expected norm, with few risks or negative
consequences.
(E) The foundational components of healthy
relationships and their impact on the formation of
healthy marriages and safe and stable families.
(F) How to resist and avoid sexual coercion and
dating violence, recognizing that even with consent,
teen sex remains a youth risk behavior.
(G) How other youth risk behaviors, such as drug
and alcohol usage, increase the risk for teen sex.
(6) The education will ensure that any information provided
on contraception--
(A) is medically accurate and ensures that students
understand that contraception offers only physical risk
reduction and not risk elimination; and
(B) does not include demonstration, simulation, or
distribution of contraceptive devices.
(c) Priority.--In awarding grants under subsection (a), the
Secretary shall give priority to applicants proposing programs to
provide qualified SRA education that will--
(1) regularly reinforce the SRA message in both the middle
and high school grades; and
(2) promote parent-child communication regarding the
benefits of avoiding all sexual risk.
(d) Application.--To seek an application under this section, an
entity shall submit an application at such time, in such manner, and
containing such assurances as the Secretary may require. At a minimum,
the application shall include--
(1) assurances satisfactory to the Secretary that each of
the conditions listed in subsection (c) will be satisfied;
(2) an individualized plan to evaluate the SRA education to
be funded through the grant for behavioral impact, or to inform
best practices in the provision of such SRA education that are
based on research that--
(A) is conducted by independent researchers who
have experience in conducting and publishing research
in peer-reviewed outlets; and
(B) is not part of a national evaluation that is
mandated by, contracted for, or conducted by the
Department of Health and Human Services; and
(3) an agreement to expend not more than 20 percent of
their overall grant award for such evaluation.
(e) Training and Technical Assistance.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary may provide training and
technical assistance to grantees under this section.
(2) Requirements.--Any such training and technical
assistance shall--
(A) emphasize the practical implementation of SRA
in all educational messaging to teens;
(B) be provided directly to grantees by SRA-
credentialed experts;
(C) cover methodologies and best practices in SRA
for teens; and
(D) consistently teach in the context of a public
health model that stresses risk avoidance or a return
to a risk avoidance status.
(3) Settings.--Any such training and technical assistance
shall be provided during national and regional conferences,
webinars, and one-on-one conversations about funded projects.
(4) Qualified organizations.--In addition to training and
technical assistance provided by staff of the Department of
Health and Human Services, such training and technical
assistance shall be provided by qualified organizations that
have--
(A) sole focus on the development and advancement
of SRA education;
(B) expertise in theory-based SRA program
development and implementation;
(C) direct experience in developing SRA evaluation
instruments; and
(D) the ability to offer technical assistance and
training on topics relevant to the SRA field.
(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--
(1) In general.--To carry out this section, there is
authorized to be appropriated $100,000,000 for each of fiscal
years 2018 through 2022. Amounts authorized to be appropriated
by the preceding sentence shall be derived exclusively from
amounts made available for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention
program of the Department of Health and Human Services.
(2) Federal administrative costs.--Of the amount authorized
to be appropriated by paragraph (1) for a fiscal year--
(A) up to $1,000,000 are authorized to be used for
the creation of a national media campaign to increase
understanding and appreciation for SRA education;
(B) not more than $1,000,000 are authorized to be
used for Federal administrative costs; and
(C) of the amount used by the Secretary for
administrative costs, no more than 25 percent shall be
used for training and technical assistance.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
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