A Vile Amendment To Vile Legislation: GIVE Act HR 1388 Amdt 49

[painterbw]

*This is the mandatory (forced) national service act that reportedly just passed yesterday. Not only does the new law force you to "volunteer" your time to community service, but you also forfeit your unalienable, Constitutional Right of Free Speech, while you're "volunteering." No, I'm not joking. Read on. At this time, it is not known which version of H.R. 1388 was passed into law.

FYI: I did not put the "cool" emoticon in the thread. I cut and pasted from the  legislation tracking web site "Thomas," so it must be embedded in the text. Personally, I sure don't think it's cool.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.1388:

There are 4 versions of Bill Number H.R.1388 for the 111th Congress
1 . GIVE Act (Introduced in House)[H.R.1388.IH]
2 . GIVE Act (Reported in House)[H.R.1388.RH]
3 . GIVE Act (Engrossed as Agreed to or Passed by House)[H.R.1388.EH]
4 . GIVE Act (Placed on Calendar in Senate)[H.R.1388.PCS]

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http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/thomas

H.R.1388 Title: To reauthorize and reform the national service laws.
Sponsor: Rep McCarthy, Carolyn [NY-4] (introduced 3/9/2009)      Cosponsors (37)
Related Bills: H.RES.250, S.277
Latest Major Action: 3/24/2009 Senate floor actions. Status: Measure laid before Senate by motion.
House Reports: 111-37

SUMMARY AS OF:
3/9/2009--Introduced.

Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act or the GIVE Act - Amends the National and Community Service Act of 1990 (NSCA) and the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973 (DVSA) to revise the programs under such Acts and reauthorize appropriations for such programs through FY2014.

Revises under NSCA: (1) the School-Based and Community-Based Service-Learning programs and Higher Education Innovative Programs for Community Service (Learn and Serve programs); (2) National Service Trust programs (AmeriCorps); (3) the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC); and (4) the Investment for Quality and Innovation program.

Eliminates the current Community-Based Learn and Serve programs.

Establishes two new Learn and Serve programs: (1) Campuses of Service, which provides funds to institutions of higher education to develop or disseminate exemplary service-learning programs that assist their students' pursuit of public service careers; and (2) Innovative Service-Learning Programs and Research, which funds community service-learning opportunities for elementary and secondary, college, and graduate students as well as research into service-learning.

Includes among eligible AmeriCorps programs: (1) an Education Corps to address unmet educational needs; (2) a Healthy Futures Corps to address unmet health needs; (3) a Clean Energy Corps to address unmet environmental needs; and (4) a Veterans Corps to address the unmet needs of veterans and their families.

Creates AmeriCorps Opportunity Corps programs that include certain existing programs and new programs to: (1) increase community access to technology; (2) engage citizens in public safety, health, and emergency preparedness services; (3) mentor youth; (4) reduce recidivism by re-engaging court-involved youth; and (5) support the needs of veterans or active duty service members and their families.

Establishes an Education Awards Only program authorizing the Corporation for National and Community Service (Corporation) to provide fixed-amount grants to programs that have approved national service positions, but no AmeriCorps funding.

Sets the National Service educational awards for full-time AmeriCorps, NCCC, and Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) participants at a level equal to the maximum available Pell Grant available to students under the Higher Education Act of 1965.

Includes among needs to be met under the NCCC program, disaster relief, infrastructure improvement, environmental and energy conservation, and urban and rural development.

Requires states to develop comprehensive plans for volunteer and paid service by Baby Boomers and older adults.

Directs the Corporation to plan pilot programs to: (1) better target and serve displaced workers; and (2) establish a centralized electronic citizenship verification system which would allow the Corporation to share employment eligibility information with the Department of Education.

Authorizes the Corporation to treat September 11th annually as a National Day of Service and Remembrance.

Establishes within the Investment for Quality and Innovation program: (1) a ServeAmerica Fellowships program providing fellowships to individuals chosen by states to participate in service projects addressing certain areas of national need; (2) a Silver Scholarship Grant Program providing scholarships to individuals age 55 or older who complete at least 500 hours of service in a year in an area of national need; and (3) an Encore Fellowships program providing one-year fellowships to individuals age 55 or older who serve in areas of national need and receive training to transition to public service employment. Makes ServeAmerica fellows eligible for national service educational awards.

Authorizes the Corporation to provide grants to innovative and model service programs, including those for disadvantaged youth, youth under age 17, and potential recidivists.

Eliminates federal funding for the Points of Light Foundation.

Revises under DVSA: (1) the VISTA program; and (2) the Senior Corps, including the Retired and Senior Volunteer program (RSVP), the Foster Grandparent program, and the Senior Companion program.

Gives priority in VISTA participant selection to disadvantaged youth and retired adults of any profession.

Authorizes new VISTA grant programs of national significance that provide poor and rural communities with: (1) services reintegrating formerly incarcerated individuals into society; (2) financial literacy and planning; (3) before-school and after-school services; (4) community economic development initiatives; (5) assistance to veterans and their families; and (6) health and wellness services. Eliminates the VISTA Literacy Corps, University Year for VISTA, and Literacy Challenge Grant programs.

Raises the minimum and maximum stipend provided to VISTA participants.

Prioritizes RSVP projects in specified areas.

Makes anyone 55 years of age or older eligible as Senior Corps volunteers.

Provides, under the Senior Corps demonstration program, incentive matching grants to Senior Corps programs that exceed specified performance measures, enroll most of their volunteers in outcome-based service programs, and increase their enrollment of Baby Boomer volunteers.

Expresses the sense of the Congress that the number of AmeriCorps, VISTA, and NCCC participants should reach 250,000 by 2014.

Congressional Commission on Civic Service Act - Establishes a Congressional Commission on Civic Service to provide recommendations to Congress on improving opportunities for individuals to volunteer or perform national service.

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http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c111:4:./temp/~c111djfyI4:e118042:

H.R.1388
GIVE Act (Placed on Calendar in Senate)

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SEC. 1304. PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES AND INELIGIBLE ORGANIZATIONS.

Section 125 (42 U.S.C. 12575) is amended to read as follows:

`SEC. 125. PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES AND INELIGIBLE ORGANIZATIONS.

`(a) Prohibited Activities- A participant in an approved national service position under this subtitle may not engage in the following activities:

`(1) Attempting to influence legislation.

`(2) Organizing or engaging in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes.

`(3) Assisting, promoting, or deterring union organizing.

`(4) Impairing existing contracts for services or collective bargaining agreements.

`(5) Engaging in partisan political activities, or other activities designed to influence the outcome of an election to any public office.

`(6) Participating in, or endorsing, events or activities that are likely to include advocacy for or against political parties, political platforms, political candidates, proposed legislation, or elected officials.

`(7) Engaging in religious instruction, conducting worship services, providing instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship, constructing or operating facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship, maintaining facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship, or engaging in any form of religious proselytization.

`( Providing a direct benefit to--

`(A) a business organized for profit;

`(B) a labor organization;

`(C) a partisan political organization;

`(D) a nonprofit organization that fails to comply with the restrictions contained in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 except that nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent participants from engaging in advocacy activities undertaken at their own initiative; and

`(E) an organization engaged in the religious activities described in paragraph (7), unless Corporation assistance is not used to support those religious activities.

`(9) Conducting a voter registration drive or using Corporation funds to conduct a voter registration drive.

`(10) Such other activities as the Corporation may prohibit.

`(b) Ineligible Organizations- No assistance provided under this subtitle may be provided to the following types of organizations (including the participation of a participant in an approved national service position under this subtitle in activities conducted by such organizations) or to organizations that are co-located on the same premises as the following organizations:

`(1) Organizations that provide or promote abortion services, including referral for such services.

`(2) For-profit organizations, political parties, labor organizations, or organizations engaged in political or legislative advocacy.

`(3) Organizations that have been indicted for voter fraud.

`(c) Nondisplacement of Employed Workers or Other Volunteers- A participant in an approved national service position under this subtitle may not perform any services or duties or engage in activities which--

`(1) would otherwise be performed by an employed worker as part of his or her assigned duties as an employee or by another volunteer who is not a participant in an approved national service position; or

`(2) will supplant the hiring of employed workers or work of such other volunteers.'.