Capital Update tracks the movement of legislation, the introduction of notable bills, and routine regulatory announcements.
Legislative Action
Adult Literacy
HR 751
The House last month approved by voice vote a bill that would authorize $140 million in new spending for literacy programs.
Civil Rights
HR 1
By a vote of 24 to 10, the House Judiciary Committee last month passed the proposed “civil rights act of 1991,” retaining that title. The House Education and Labor Committee had voted earlier to change the bill’s name to the “civil rights and women’s equity in employment act of 1991.”
Disabled Infants and Toddlers
The Senate Subcommittee on Disability Policy held a hearing March 15 on proposals for reauthorizing the federal Part H program, which provides seed money to the states to develop comprehensive service-delivery systems for Lhandicapped infants and toddlers and their families.
Education Budget
The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education last month held a hearing on the Education Department’s fiscal 1992 budget.
Family Leave
HR 2
The House Education and Labor Committee last month approved by voice vote legislation that would require employers to grant workers unpaid leave to care for newborn babies, newly adopted children, or ill family members.
Family Planning
The House Subcommittee on Health and the Environment held a hearing last month on the reauthorization of the federal family-planning program, Title X. The program has not been formally reauthorized since 1985. Action has been stymied by a debate over whether grant recipients can provide abortion counseling or services to minors without parental consent.
Higher Education Act
The Senate Education, Arts, and Humanities Subcommittee and the House Postsecondary Education Subcommittee heard from students at a joint hearing last month on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. A Senate subcommittee also heard from educators and as sociation officials at a separate hearing on the act.
Martinez Nomination
The Senate last month approved the nomination of Bob Martinez to be the di rector of the office of national drug-con trol policy.
Minority Scholarships
A House Governmental Affairs subcommittee last month held two hearings on the Education Department’s decisionmaking process in formulating a policy on race-exclusive scholarships.
Veterans Benefits,Teacher Standards Board
HR 1175, HR 1281
The Congress on March 22 gave final approval to an appropriations bill that in cludes $50 million for education, support services, and child care to the families of soldiers who served in Operation Desert Storm. The bill also includes a provision that would allow $5 million in federal funds to flow to the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards--with virtually no strings attached.
