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HR 5727 IH

To authorize the Secretary of Labor to make grants for the establishment of information technology centers in rural areas.

April 8, 2008

Mrs. CAPITO introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor

To authorize the Secretary of Labor to make grants for the establishment of information technology centers in rural areas.

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 `Rural Information Technology Investment Act'.

SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR RURAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CENTERS.

(a) Authorization- The Secretary shall make grants of not more than $250,000 to eligible entities for the establishment of information technology centers in rural areas.

(b) Eligible Entities- Eligible recipients may be any small business or not for profit organization or businesses operating in a rural area.

(c) Application- To receive a grant under this Act, an eligible entity shall submit an application to the Secretary in such time and manner, and having such content, as the Secretary may by rule require.

(d) Priority- In making grants under this Act, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible entities that--

(1) promote information technology research and development at colleges and universities in rural areas;

(2) are located in a county with an unemployment rate, as determined on the basis the most recent data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, of at least 1.1 times the national unemployment rate for the period to which such data relate;

(3) are certified by the Small Business Administration as qualified HUBZone small businesses; or

(4) work in conjunction with a local Workforce Investment Board (established pursuant to section 117 of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2832)).

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

As used in this Act--

(1) the term `Secretary' means the secretary of Labor;

(2) the term `information technology' means the use of hardware, software, services, and supporting infrastructure to manage and deliver information using voice, data, and video by means of a computer or data network or networks;

(3) the term `information technology center' means a for profit or not for profit business venture that offers information technology services including application maintenance and support, application development, help desk services, personal computer maintenance and support, network management, data center management, database management, server management, or web hosting, and is designed to expand high tech job opportunities in rural areas; and

(4) the term `rural area' means a territory outside an urbanized area or urban cluster, as such terms are defined by the Census Bureau.

SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

There is authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2009 through 2011 to carry out this Act.