S.Amdt. 2207

SA 2207. Ms. MIKULSKI submitted an amendment intended to be proposed
to amendment SA 2089 submitted by Mr. Alexander (for himself and Mrs.
Murray) to the bill S. 1177, to reauthorize the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965 to ensure that every child achieves;
which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

On page 630, between lines 4 and 5, insert the following:

SEC. 5011. PERFORMANCE PARTNERSHIPS PILOT PROGRAM FOR
DISCONNECTED YOUTH.

Title V (20 U.S.C. 7201 et seq.), as amended by section
5001, is further amended by inserting after part I, as added
by section 5010, the following:

PART J--PERFORMANCE PARTNERSHIPS PILOT PROGRAM FOR DISCONNECTED YOUTH

SEC. 5911. PURPOSE; FINDINGS.

(a) Purpose.--The purpose of this part is to authorize a
performance partnerships pilot program for disconnected youth
to promote coordination between Federal agencies in order to
improve outcomes for disconnected youth in communities.
(b) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) Recent events in communities across the United States
have illustrated, in part, the importance of improving
opportunities, outcomes, and services for disconnected
populations.
(2) One in 6 youth, nationwide, are not connected to the
labor force.
(3) There are 2,500,000 children being raised by parents
who were disconnected youth themselves.
(4) The United States has a responsibility to improve
outcomes for disconnected youth by investing in innovative
strategies to address the needs of disconnected populations.
(5) The Committee on Appropriations of the Senate has
recognized the value in investing in such partnerships and
has supported Performance Partnership Pilots for Disconnected
Youth in recent appropriations bills for the Departments of
Health, Human Services, and Education, and related agencies.

SEC. 5912. PERFORMANCE PARTNERSHIPS PILOT PROGRAM.

(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Disconnected youth.--The term ``disconnected youth''
means an individual who--
(A) is between the ages 14 to 24, inclusive; and
(B)(i) is homeless, in foster care, or involved with the
criminal justice system; or
(ii) is not working and not enrolled in an elementary
school, secondary school, institution of higher education, or
other educational institution.
(2) Participating federal agency.--The term ``participating
Federal agency'' means the Department of Education, the
Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of
Labor, and the Corporation for National and Community
Service, as appropriate based on the specific Performance
Partnership Pilot involved.
(3) Performance partnership pilot.--The term ``Performance
Partnership Pilot'' is a project that seeks to identify,
through a demonstration, cost-effective strategies for
providing services at the State, regional, or local level
that--
(A) involve 2 or more Federal programs (administered by one
or more Federal agencies)--
(i) which have related policy goals, and
(ii) at least one of which is administered (in whole or in
part) by a State, local, or tribal government; and
(B) achieve better results for regions, communities, or
specific at-risk populations through making better use of the
budgetary resources that are available for supporting such
programs.
(4) Lead federal administering agency.--The term ``lead
Federal administering agency'' is the Federal agency, to be
designated by the Director of the Office of Management and
Budget (from among the participating Federal agencies that
have statutory responsibility for the Federal discretionary
funds that will be used in a Performance Partnership Pilot),
that will enter into and administer the particular
performance partnership agreement on behalf of that agency
and the other participating Federal agencies.
(b) Flexibility of Funds.--Participating Federal agencies
may carry out not more than 10 Performance Partnership Pilots
under this section. Each Performance Partnership Pilot
shall--
(1) provide flexibility to the entities participating in
the Performance Partnership Pilot with respect to
discretionary funds under the authority of the participating
Federal agencies, as specified in the performance partnership
agreement;
(2) be designed to improve outcomes for disconnected youth,
by increasing the rate at which disconnected youth achieve
success in meeting educational, employment, or other key
goals; and
(3) involve Federal programs targeted to disconnected
youth, or designed to prevent youth from disconnecting from
school or work, that provide education, training, employment,
and other related social services.
(c) Performance Partnership Agreements.--Federal agencies
may use Federal funds, as authorized in subsection (b), to
participate in a Performance Partnership Pilot only in
accordance with the terms of a performance partnership
agreement that--
(1) is entered into between--
(A) the head of the lead Federal administering agency, on
behalf of all of the participating Federal agencies (subject
to the head of the lead Federal administering agency having
received from the heads of each of the other participating
agencies their written concurrence for entering into the
agreement), and
(B) the respective representatives of all of the State,
local, or tribal governments that are participating in the
agreement; and
(2) specifies, at a minimum, the following information:
(A) The length of the agreement (which shall not extend for
more than 3 years after the date upon which the parties enter
into the agreement).
(B) The Federal programs and federally funded services that
are involved in the Performance Partnership Pilot.
(C) The Federal funds that are being used in the
Performance Partnership Pilot (by the respective Federal
account identifier, and the total amount from such account
that is being used in the Performance Partnership Pilot) in
accordance with subsection (b)(1), and any period of
availability for obligation (by the Federal Government) of
any such funds.
(D) The non-Federal funds that are involved in the
Performance Partnership Pilot, by source (which may include
private funds as well as governmental funds) and by amount.
(E) The State, local, or tribal programs that are involved
in the Performance Partnership Pilot.
(F) The populations to be served by the Performance
Partnership Pilot.
(G) The cost-effective Federal oversight procedures that
will be used for the purpose of maintaining the necessary
level of accountability for the use of the Federal
discretionary funds.
(H) The cost-effective State, local, or tribal oversight
procedures that will be used for the purpose of maintaining
the necessary level of accountability for the use of the
Federal discretionary funds.
(I) The outcome (or outcomes) that the Performance
Partnership Pilot is designed to achieve.
(J) The appropriate, reliable, and objective outcome-
measurement methodology that the Federal Government and the
participating State, local, or tribal governments will use,
in carrying out the Pilot, to determine whether the
Performance Partnership Pilot is achieving, and has achieved,
the specified outcomes that the Performance Partnership Pilot
is designed to achieve.
(K) The statutory, regulatory, or administrative
requirements related to Federal mandatory programs that are
barriers to achieving improved outcomes of the Pilot.
(L) In cases where, during the course of the Performance
Partnership Pilot, it is determined that the Performance
Partnership Pilot is not achieving the specified outcomes
that it is designed to achieve--
(i) the consequences that will result from such
deficiencies with respect to the Federal discretionary funds
that are being used in the Performance Partnership Pilot; and
(ii) the corrective actions that will be taken in order to
increase the likelihood that the Performance Partnership
Pilot, upon completion, will have achieved such specified
outcomes.

[[Page S4978]]

(d) Agency Head Determinations.--
(1) In general.--A participating Federal agency may
participate in a Performance Partnership Pilot (including by
providing funds described in subsection (b)(1) that have been
appropriated to such agency) only upon the written
determination by the head of such agency that the agency's
participation in such Performance Partnership Pilot--
(A) will not result in denying or restricting the
eligibility of any individual for any of the services that
(in whole or in part) are funded by the agency's programs and
Federal discretionary funds that are involved in the
Performance Partnership Pilot, and
(B) based on the best available information, will not
otherwise adversely affect vulnerable populations that are
the recipients of such services.
(2) Consideration.--In making the determination under
paragraph (1), the head of a participating Federal agency may
take into consideration the other Federal funds described in
subsection (b)(1) that will be used in the Pilot as well as
any non-Federal funds (including from private sources as well
as governmental sources) that will be used in the Performance
Partnership Pilot.
(e) Transfer Authority.--
(1) In general.--For the purpose of carrying out the
Performance Partnership Pilot in accordance with the
performance partnership agreement, and subject to the written
approval of the Director of the Office of Management and
Budget, the head of each participating Federal agency may
transfer the Federal funds described in subsection (b)(1)
that are being used in the Pilot to an account of the lead
Federal administering agency that includes other Federal
discretionary funds that are being used in the Pilot. Subject
to the waiver authority under subsection (f), such
transferred funds shall remain available for the same
purposes for which such funds were originally appropriated,
except as provided in paragraph (2).
(2) Exception.--Funds transferred under paragraph (1) shall
remain available for obligation by the Federal Government
until the expiration of the period of availability for those
Federal discretionary funds (which are being used in the
Pilot) that have the longest period of availability, except
that any such transferred funds shall not remain available
beyond (which shall not extend for more than 3 years after
the date upon which the parties enter into the performance
partnership agreement).
(f) Waiver Authority.--In connection with the participation
by a Federal participating agency in a Performance
Partnership Pilot, and subject to the other provisions of
this section (including subsection (e)), the head of the
Federal participating agency to which Federal funds described
in subsection (b)(1) were appropriated may waive (in whole or
in part) the application, solely to such discretionary funds
that are being used in the Pilot, of any statutory,
regulatory, or administrative requirement that such agency
head--
(1) is otherwise authorized to waive (in accordance with
the terms and conditions of such other authority), and
(2) is not otherwise authorized to waive, except that--
(A) the head of the agency shall not waive any requirement
related to nondiscrimination, wage and labor standards, or
allocation of funds to State and substate levels;
(B) the head of the agency shall issue, for any requirement
described in this paragraph) a written determination, prior
to granting the waiver, with respect to such discretionary
funds that the granting of such waiver for purposes of the
Performance Partnership Pilot--
(i) is consistent with both--

(I) the statutory purposes of the Federal program for which
such discretionary funds were appropriated, and
(II) the other provisions of this section, including the
written determination by the head of the agency issued under
subsection (d);

(ii) is necessary to achieve the outcomes of the
Performance Partnership Pilot as specified in the performance
partnership agreement, and is no broader in scope than is
necessary to achieve such outcomes; and
(iii) will result in either--

(I) realizing efficiencies by simplifying reporting burdens
or reducing administrative barriers with respect to such
discretionary funds, or
(II) increasing the ability of individuals to obtain access
to services that are provided by such discretionary funds;
and

(C) the head of the agency shall provide at least 60 days
advance written notice to the Committee on Appropriations of
the House of Representatives, the Committee on Appropriations
of the Senate, and all other committees of jurisdiction in
the House of Representatives and the Senate.
(g) Applicability to Existing Performance Partnership
Pilots.--Nothing in this part shall be construed to apply to
any Performance Partnership Pilot carried out under the
authority of section 524 of the Departments of Labor, Health
and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act, 2015 (Public Law 113-325; 128 Stat. 2522)
or section 526 of the Department of Labor, Health and Human
Services, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2014
(Public Law 113-76; 128 Stat. 413).
______