[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5724 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5724

To amend the National and Community Service Act of 1990 to establish a 
                           pilot Civic Corps.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 26, 2023

  Mr. Neguse introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the National and Community Service Act of 1990 to establish a 
                           pilot Civic Corps.

    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 ``Civic Corps Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. CIVIC CORPS.

    Section 122(a) of the National and Community Service Act of 1990 
(42 U.S.C. 12572(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(6) Pilot civic corps.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The recipient may carry out 
                national service programs through a pilot Civic Corps 
                that identifies and meets unmet electoral and 
                governance needs within communities through activities 
                such as those described in subparagraph (B) and 
                improves performance on the indicators described in 
                subparagraph (C).
                    ``(B) Activities.--A pilot Civic Corps described in 
                this paragraph may carry out activities such as--
                            ``(i) providing support to State, local, or 
                        tribal election officials;
                            ``(ii) improving voter and civics 
                        education;
                            ``(iii) providing assistance with election 
                        administration activities; or
                            ``(iv) providing educational opportunities 
                        for elementary school and secondary school 
                        students to better understand the rights and 
                        obligations of being an American citizen.
                    ``(C) Civic corps indicators.--The indicators for a 
                corps program described in this paragraph are--
                            ``(i) the rate and ease that State, local, 
                        or tribal election officials are able to 
                        successfully conduct elections in a timely, 
                        efficient, and effective manner;
                            ``(ii) the rate of student engagement, 
                        including student attendance and student 
                        behavior, in civic engagement educational 
                        opportunities;
                            ``(iii) improved staff retention in State, 
                        local, or tribal election offices;
                            ``(iv) the rate of participants in the 
                        corps program who are from the veteran 
                        community;
                            ``(v) any additional indicator relating to 
                        improving civic engagement that the 
                        Corporation, in consultation (as appropriate) 
                        with the Election Assistance Commission, 
                        establishes; or
                            ``(vi) any additional local indicator 
                        (applicable to a particular recipient and on 
                        which an improvement in performance is needed) 
                        relating to improving election administration 
                        or voter engagement that is approved by the 
                        Corporation, a State Secretary of State, or a 
                        local or tribal election official.
                    ``(D) Prohibited activities.--A pilot Civic Corps 
                described in this paragraph may not carry out any of 
                the following activities:
                            ``(i) Attempting to influence legislation.
                            ``(ii) Engaging in partisan political 
                        activities, or other activities designed to 
                        influence the outcome of an election to any 
                        public office.
                            ``(iii) 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.
                            ``(iv) Conducting a voter registration 
                        drive, including by using funds under this Act 
                        conduct such a drive.
                    ``(E) Termination.--A pilot Civic Corps carried out 
                under this paragraph by the recipient shall terminate 
                after a 5-year period, and not more than one recipient 
                described in the matter preceding paragraph (1) may 
                carry out such pilot Civic Corps.''.
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