Senate Study Bill 1327
SENATE FILE
BY (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND
MEANS BILL BY CHAIRPERSON
BOLKCOM)
Passed Senate, Date Passed House, Date
Vote: Ayes Nays Vote: Ayes Nays
Approved
A BILL FOR
1 An Act relating to programs administered by the commission on
2 volunteer service by establishing Iowa summer youth corps and
3 green corps programs, creating the community programs account
4 and making appropriations from the account, excluding certain
5 payments provided to an AmeriCorps volunteer from state income
6 tax, and providing effective dates.
7 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
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PAG LIN
1 1 Section 1. NEW SECTION. 15H.5 IOWA SUMMER YOUTH CORPS.
1 2 1. For the purposes of this section, "service=learning"
1 3 means a teaching and learning strategy that integrates
1 4 meaningful community service with instruction and reflection
1 5 to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility,
1 6 and strengthen communities.
1 7 2. The Iowa summer youth corps program is established to
1 8 provide meaningful summer enrichment programming to Iowa
1 9 youth. The program shall be administered by the Iowa
1 10 commission on volunteer service using a competitive grant
1 11 process to implement projects in accordance with program
1 12 requirements. The commission shall adopt administrative rules
1 13 for the program, including but not limited to incentives,
1 14 grant criteria, and grantee selection processes. A percentage
1 15 of the grants shall be designated by the commission to address
1 16 the needs of city enterprise zones that meet the distress
1 17 criteria outlined in section 15E.194.
1 18 3. The program shall provide grants for projects that
1 19 utilize a service=learning approach during the summer months
1 20 to enhance student achievement and summer learning retention,
1 21 teach meaningful job skills to Iowa youth, engage Iowa youth
1 22 in their communities, provide positive youth development
1 23 experiences, and address the needs of youth from families with
1 24 low income. The service=learning approach shall be integrated
1 25 into the program using science, technology, engineering,
1 26 mathematics, social studies, civic literacy, or other
1 27 appropriate curricula identified by the department of
1 28 education.
1 29 4. The program shall involve the youth participating in
1 30 the program in service=learning activities with one or more of
1 31 the following focuses:
1 32 a. Energy conservation in the youth's community, including
1 33 conducting educational outreach on energy conservation and
1 34 working to improve energy efficiency in low=income housing and
1 35 public spaces.
2 1 b. Emergency and disaster preparedness.
2 2 c. Improving access to and obtaining the benefits from
2 3 providing computers and other emerging technologies in
2 4 underserved and other appropriate areas of counties and
2 5 cities, including but not limited to low=income communities,
2 6 senior centers and communities, schools, libraries, and other
2 7 public settings.
2 8 d. Mentoring of middle school youth while involving all
2 9 participants in service=learning to address unmet human,
2 10 educational, environmental, public safety, or emergency
2 11 disaster preparedness needs in the participants' community.
2 12 e. Establishing or implementing summer of service projects
2 13 during the summer months. Budgeting for a summer of service
2 14 project shall include the cost of recruitment, training, and
2 15 placement of service=learning coordinators. A summer of
2 16 service project shall comply with all of the following
2 17 requirements:
2 18 (1) Youth participating in a project will be enrolled in
2 19 grades six through twelve in the school year which begins
2 20 immediately following the end of a project.
2 21 (2) The focus of each project shall be community=based
2 22 service=learning activities that address unmet human,
2 23 educational, environmental, emergency and disaster
2 24 preparedness, and public service needs. Environmental needs
2 25 addressed may include energy conservation, water quality, and
2 26 land stewardship.
2 27 (3) The activities for each project shall be intensive,
2 28 structured, supervised, and designed to produce identifiable
2 29 improvements to the community. The activities may include the
2 30 extension of school year service=learning programs into the
2 31 summer months.
2 32 f. Performing community improvement projects, which may
2 33 include but are not limited to a green corps program activity
2 34 under section 15H.6 or other youth training program.
2 35 5. a. Funding for the Iowa summer youth corps program and
3 1 the Iowa green corps program established pursuant to section
3 2 15H.6 shall be obtained from private sector, and local, state,
3 3 and federal government sources, or from other available funds
3 4 credited to the community programs account, which shall be
3 5 created within the department of economic development under
3 6 the authority of the commission. Moneys available in the
3 7 account for a fiscal year are appropriated to the commission
3 8 to be used for the programs.
3 9 b. The commission shall manage the program in a manner to
3 10 maximize the leveraging of federal, local, and private funding
3 11 opportunities that increase or amplify program impact and
3 12 service=learning opportunities. The commission shall also
3 13 encourage collaboration with, and utilization of, other
3 14 national, local, and nonprofit programs engaged in community
3 15 service or addressing the needs of youth from families with
3 16 low income.
3 17 c. The commission shall give priority consideration to
3 18 approving those projects that target communities that have
3 19 disproportionately high rates of juvenile crime or low rates
3 20 of high school graduation or that have been designated as city
3 21 enterprise zones that meet the distress criteria outlined in
3 22 section 15E.194.
3 23 d. The commission shall include progress information
3 24 concerning implementation of the program in the quarterly
3 25 reports made to the governor and the general assembly in
3 26 accordance with section 15H.2.
3 27 6. a. Notwithstanding any contrary provision of chapter
3 28 8A, subchapter IV, or chapter 96, a person participating in
3 29 the Iowa summer youth corps program shall be exempt from merit
3 30 system requirements and shall not be eligible to receive
3 31 unemployment compensation benefits.
3 32 b. If a stipend is provided to a youth participating in
3 33 the program, the youth shall be age fourteen through eighteen.
3 34 c. A youth participating in a summer of service project
3 35 that either has an education award or no compensation shall
4 1 comply with the grade level requirements specified for summer
4 2 of service project participation.
4 3 d. A project that uses funding for an AmeriCorps young
4 4 adult component within the project design shall limit
4 5 participation in the component to young adults who are age
4 6 eighteen through twenty=five at the time of enrollment in the
4 7 project.
4 8 Sec. 2. NEW SECTION. 15H.6 IOWA GREEN CORPS PROGRAM.
4 9 1. The Iowa commission on volunteer service, in
4 10 collaboration with the department of natural resources, the
4 11 department of workforce development, the office of energy
4 12 independence, and the utilities board of the department of
4 13 commerce shall establish an Iowa green corps program. The
4 14 commission shall work with the collaborating agencies and
4 15 nonprofit agencies in developing a strategy for attracting
4 16 additional financial resources for the program from other
4 17 sources which may include but are not limited to utilities,
4 18 private sector, and local, state, and federal government
4 19 funding sources. The financial resources received shall be
4 20 credited to the community programs account created pursuant to
4 21 section 15H.5.
4 22 2. The program shall utilize AmeriCorps or Iowa summer
4 23 youth corps program volunteers to provide capacity building
4 24 activities, training, and implementation of major
4 25 transformative projects in communities. The project selection
4 26 shall emphasize energy efficiency, historic preservation,
4 27 neighborhood development, and storm water reduction and
4 28 management.
4 29 3. The capacity building activities shall be targeted in
4 30 communities that are already working with existing community
4 31 improvement programs, including but not limited to the Iowa
4 32 great places program established under section 303.3C, the
4 33 green streets and main street Iowa programs administered by
4 34 the department of economic development, and disaster
4 35 remediation activities by communities located within an area
5 1 declared to be a disaster area in a declaration issued by the
5 2 president of the United States or the governor.
5 3 Sec. 3. Section 422.7, Code 2009, is amended by adding the
5 4 following new subsection:
5 5 NEW SUBSECTION. 23. Subtract, to the extent included, the
5 6 amount of federal Segal AmeriCorps education award payments.
5 7 Sec. 4. EFFECTIVE DATES == APPLICABILITY.
5 8 1. Except as provided in subsection 2, this Act takes
5 9 effect July 1, 2010.
5 10 2. The provision of this Act amending section 422.7 takes
5 11 effect January 1, 2010, and is applicable on or after that
5 12 date.
5 13 EXPLANATION
5 14 This bill relates to youth employment programs administered
5 15 by the commission on volunteer service by establishing the
5 16 Iowa summer youth corps and green corps programs, creating the
5 17 community programs account and making appropriations from the
5 18 account, excluding certain payments provided to an AmeriCorps
5 19 volunteer from state income tax, and providing a retroactive
5 20 applicability provision.
5 21 New Code section 15H.5 establishes the Iowa summer youth
5 22 corps program under the authority of the commission to provide
5 23 meaningful summer enrichment programming to Iowa youth,
5 24 requires the program to be implemented by issuing competitive
5 25 grants for projects, requires the commission to designate a
5 26 percentage of the grants to address the needs of city
5 27 enterprise zones that meet the distress criteria under Code
5 28 section 15E.194, defines the term "service=learning", requires
5 29 the participating youth to be engaged with various specified
5 30 service=learning activities, outlines requirements for "summer
5 31 of service" projects for youth who will be entering grades six
5 32 through 12, creates a community programs account, and
5 33 appropriates any funding available in the account to the
5 34 commission for the youth corps program and the green corps
5 35 program also created by the bill.
6 1 A participant in the youth corps program is exempt from
6 2 state merit system requirements and is not eligible to receive
6 3 unemployment compensation benefits. If a stipend is provided,
6 4 the participant must be age 14 through 18. If a project uses
6 5 funding for an AmeriCorps young adult component, participation
6 6 in the component is limited to young adults who are age 18
6 7 through 25 at the time of enrollment.
6 8 New Code section 15H.6 directs the commission on volunteer
6 9 service, in collaboration with the departments of natural
6 10 resources and workforce development, and the utilities board,
6 11 to establish an Iowa green corps program. The program is
6 12 required to use AmeriCorps or Iowa summer youth corps program
6 13 volunteers to provide capacity building activities, training,
6 14 and implementation of major transformative projects in
6 15 communities. The project selection is required to emphasize
6 16 energy efficiency, historic preservation, neighborhood
6 17 development, and storm water reduction and management. The
6 18 capacity building activities are required to be targeted to
6 19 communities that are already working with existing community
6 20 improvement programs and may include disaster remediation
6 21 activities.
6 22 Code section 422.7 is amended to exclude from state
6 23 individual income tax the amount of federal Segal AmeriCorps
6 24 education award payments. This provision takes effect on and
6 25 applies to January 1, 2010, for tax years beginning on or
6 26 after that date.
6 27 The remainder of the bill takes effect July 1, 2010.
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