II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1877
To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs to carry out a program under which the Secretary provides
certain individuals with the opportunity to enroll in high technology
programs of education that the Secretary determines provide training
or skills sought by employers in a relevant field or industry, and for
other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JUNE8, 2023
Mr. B
RAUN(for himself, Mr. RUBIO, and Mr. TILLIS) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Sec-
retary of Veterans Affairs to carry out a program under
which the Secretary provides certain individuals with the
opportunity to enroll in high technology programs of
education that the Secretary determines provide training
or skills sought by employers in a relevant field or indus-
try, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Continue VET TEC 2
Authorization Act of 2023’’. 3
SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS HIGH TECH-4
NOLOGY PROGRAM. 5
(a) H
IGHTECHNOLOGYPROGRAM.— 6
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Chapter 36 of title 38, 7
United States Code, is amended by adding at the 8
end the following new section: 9
‘‘§ 3699C. High technology program 10
‘‘(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—(1) The Secretary shall 11
carry out a program under which the Secretary provides 12
covered individuals with the opportunity to enroll in high 13
technology programs of education that the Secretary de-14
termines provide training or skills sought by employers in 15
a relevant field or industry. 16
‘‘(2) Not more than 6,000 covered individuals may 17
participate in the program under this section in any fiscal 18
year. 19
‘‘(b) A
MOUNT OFASSISTANCE.—(1) The Secretary 20
shall provide, to each covered individual who pursues a 21
high technology program of education under this section, 22
educational assistance in amounts equal to the amounts 23
provided under section 3313(c)(1) of this title, including 24
with respect to the housing stipend described in that sec-25
tion and in accordance with the treatment of programs 26
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that are distance learning and programs that are less than 1
half-time. 2
‘‘(2) Under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall pro-3
vide such amounts of educational assistance to a covered 4
individual for each of the following: 5
‘‘(A) A high technology program of education. 6
‘‘(B) A second such program if— 7
‘‘(i) the second such program begins at 8
least 18 months after the covered individual 9
graduates from the first such program; and 10
‘‘(ii) the covered individual uses edu-11
cational assistance under chapter 33 of this 12
title to pursue the second such program. 13
‘‘(c) C
ONTRACTS.—(1) For purposes of carrying out 14
subsection (a), the Secretary shall seek to enter into con-15
tracts with any number of qualified providers of high tech-16
nology programs of education for the provision of such 17
programs to covered individuals. Each such contract shall 18
provide for the conditions under which the Secretary may 19
terminate the contract with the provider and the proce-20
dures for providing for the graduation of students who 21
were enrolled in a program provided by such provider in 22
the case of such a termination. 23
‘‘(2) A contract under this subsection shall provide 24
that the Secretary shall pay to a provider— 25
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‘‘(A) upon the enrollment of a covered indi-1
vidual in the program, 25 percent of the cost of the 2
tuition and other fees for the program of education 3
for the individual; 4
‘‘(B) upon graduation of the individual from 5
the program, 25 percent of such cost; and 6
‘‘(C) 50 percent of such cost upon— 7
‘‘(i) the successful employment of the cov-8
ered individual for a period— 9
‘‘(I) of 180 days in the field of study 10
of the program; and 11
‘‘(II) that begins not later than 180 12
days following graduation of the covered 13
individual from the program; 14
‘‘(ii) the employment of the individual by 15
the provider for a period of one year; or 16
‘‘(iii) the enrollment of the individual in a 17
program of education to continue education in 18
such field of study. 19
‘‘(3) For purposes of this section, a provider of a high 20
technology program of education is qualified if— 21
‘‘(A) the provider employs instructors whom the 22
Secretary determines are experts in their respective 23
fields in accordance with paragraph (5); 24
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‘‘(B) the provider has successfully provided the 1
high technology program for at least one year; 2
‘‘(C) the provider does not charge tuition and 3
fees to a covered individual who receives assistance 4
under this section to pursue such program that are 5
higher than the tuition and fees charged by such 6
provider to another individual; and 7
‘‘(D) the provider meets the approval criteria 8
developed by the Secretary under paragraph (4). 9
‘‘(4)(A) The Secretary shall prescribe criteria for ap-10
proving providers of a high technology program of edu-11
cation under this section. 12
‘‘(B) In developing such criteria, the Secretary may 13
consult with State approving agencies. 14
‘‘(C) Such criteria are not required to meet the re-15
quirements of section 3672 of this title. 16
‘‘(D) Such criteria shall include the job placement 17
rate, in the field of study of a program of education, of 18
covered individuals who complete such program of edu-19
cation. 20
‘‘(5) The Secretary shall determine whether instruc-21
tors are experts under paragraph (3)(A) based on evidence 22
furnished to the Secretary by the provider regarding the 23
ability of the instructors to— 24
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‘‘(A) identify professions in need of new em-1
ployees to hire, tailor the programs to meet market 2
needs, and identify the employers likely to hire grad-3
uates; 4
‘‘(B) effectively teach the skills offered to cov-5
ered individuals; 6
‘‘(C) provide relevant industry experience in the 7
fields of programs offered to incoming covered indi-8
viduals; and 9
‘‘(D) demonstrate relevant industry experience 10
in such fields of programs. 11
‘‘(6) In entering into contracts under this subsection, 12
the Secretary shall give preference to a provider of a high 13
technology program of education— 14
‘‘(A) from which at least 70 percent of grad-15
uates find full-time employment in the field of study 16
of the program during the 180-day period beginning 17
on the date the student graduates from the program; 18
or 19
‘‘(B) that offers tuition reimbursement for any 20
student who graduates from such a program and 21
does not find employment described in subparagraph 22
(A). 23
‘‘(d) E
FFECT ONOTHERENTITLEMENT.—(1) If a 24
covered individual enrolled in a high technology program 25
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of education under this section has remaining entitlement 1
to educational assistance under chapter 30, 32, 33, 34, 2
or 35 of this title, entitlement of the individual to edu-3
cational assistance under this section shall be charged at 4
the rate of one month of such remaining entitlement for 5
each such month of educational assistance under this sec-6
tion. 7
‘‘(2) The Secretary may not consider enrollment in 8
a high technology program of education under this section 9
to be assistance under a provision of law referred to in 10
section 3695 of this title. 11
‘‘(e) R
EQUIREMENTS FOR EDUCATIONALINSTITU-12
TIONS.—(1) The Secretary shall not approve the enroll-13
ment of any covered individual, not already enrolled, in 14
any high technology programs of education under this sec-15
tion for any period during which the Secretary finds that 16
more than 85 percent of the students enrolled in the pro-17
gram are having all or part of their tuition, fees, or other 18
charges paid to or for them by the educational institution 19
or by the Department of Veterans Affairs under this title 20
or under chapter 1606 or 1607 of title 10, except with 21
respect to tuition, fees, or other charges that are paid 22
under a payment plan at an educational institution that 23
the Secretary determines has a history of offering pay-24
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ment plans that are completed not later than 180 days 1
after the end of the applicable term, quarter, or semester. 2
‘‘(2) The Secretary may waive a requirement of para-3
graph (1) if the Secretary determines, pursuant to regula-4
tions which the Secretary shall prescribe, such waiver to 5
be in the interest of the covered individual and the Federal 6
Government. Not later than 30 days after the Secretary 7
waives such a requirement, the Secretary shall submit to 8
the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and 9
House of Representatives a report regarding such waiver. 10
‘‘(3)(A)(i) The Secretary shall establish and maintain 11
a process by which an educational institution may request 12
a review of a determination that the educational institu-13
tion does not meet the requirements of paragraph (1). 14
‘‘(ii) The Secretary may consult with a State approv-15
ing agency regarding such process or such a review. 16
‘‘(iii) Not later than 180 days after the Secretary es-17
tablishes or revises a process under this subparagraph, the 18
Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Veterans’ Af-19
fairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ Af-20
fairs of the House of Representatives a report regarding 21
such process. 22
‘‘(B) An educational institution that requests a re-23
view under subparagraph (A)— 24
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‘‘(i) shall request the review not later than 30 1
days after the start of the term, quarter, or semester 2
for which the determination described in subpara-3
graph (A) applies; and 4
‘‘(ii) may include any information that the edu-5
cational institution believes the Department should 6
have taken into account when making the deter-7
mination, including with respect to any mitigating 8
circumstances. 9
‘‘(f) A
NNUALREPORTS.—Not later than one year 10
after the date of the enactment of the Continue VET TEC 11
Authorization Act of 2023, and annually thereafter until 12
the termination date specified in subsection (i), the Sec-13
retary shall submit to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 14
of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of 15
the House of Representatives a report on the operation 16
of program under this section during the year covered by 17
the report. Each such report shall include each of the fol-18
lowing: 19
‘‘(1) The number of covered individuals enrolled 20
in the program, disaggregated by type of educational 21
institution, during the year covered by the report. 22
‘‘(2) The number of covered individuals who 23
completed a high technology program of education 24
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under the program during the year covered by the 1
report. 2
‘‘(3) The average employment rate of covered 3
individuals who completed such a program of edu-4
cation during such year, as of 180 days after the 5
date of completion. 6
‘‘(4) The average length of time between the 7
completion of such a program of education and em-8
ployment. 9
‘‘(5) The total number of covered individuals 10
who completed a program of education under the 11
program and who, as of the date of the submission 12
of the report, are employed in a position related to 13
technology. 14
‘‘(6) The average salary of a covered individual 15
who completed a program of education under the 16
program and who is employed in a position related 17
to technology, in various geographic areas deter-18
mined by the Secretary. 19
‘‘(7) The average salary of all individuals em-20
ployed in positions related to technology in the geo-21
graphic areas determined under subparagraph (F), 22
and the difference, if any, between such average sal-23
ary and the average salary of a covered individual 24
who completed a program of education under the 25
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program and who is employed in a position related 1
to technology. 2
‘‘(8) The number of covered individuals who 3
completed a program of education under the pro-4
gram and who subsequently enrolled in a second 5
program of education under the program. 6
‘‘(g) C
OLLECTION OF INFORMATION; CONSULTA-7
TION.—(1) The Secretary shall develop practices to use 8
to collect information about covered individuals and pro-9
viders of high technology programs of education. 10
‘‘(2) For the purpose of carrying out program under 11
this section, the Secretary may consult with providers of 12
high technology programs of education and may establish 13
an advisory group made up of representatives of such pro-14
viders, private employers in the technology field, and other 15
relevant groups or entities, as the Secretary determines 16
necessary. 17
‘‘(h) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 18
‘‘(1) The term ‘covered individual’ means any of 19
the following: 20
‘‘(A) A veteran whom the Secretary deter-21
mines— 22
‘‘(i) served an aggregate of at least 36 23
months on active duty in the Armed 24
Forces (including service on active duty in 25
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entry level and skill training) and was dis-1
charged or released therefrom under condi-2
tions other than dishonorable; and 3
‘‘(ii) has not attained the age of 62. 4
‘‘(B) A member of the Armed Forces that 5
the Secretary determines will become a veteran 6
described in subparagraph (A) fewer than 180 7
days after the date of such determination. 8
‘‘(2) The term ‘high technology program of edu-9
cation’ means a program of education— 10
‘‘(A) offered by a public or private edu-11
cational institution; 12
‘‘(B) if offered by an institution of higher 13
learning, that is provided directly by such insti-14
tution rather than by an entity other than such 15
institution under a contract or other agreement; 16
‘‘(C) that does not lead to a degree; 17
‘‘(D) that has a term of not less than six 18
and not more than 28 weeks; and 19
‘‘(E) that provides instruction in computer 20
programming, computer software, media appli-21
cation, data processing, or information sciences. 22
‘‘(i) T
ERMINATION.—The authority to carry out a 23
program under this section shall terminate on September 24
30, 2028.’’. 25
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(2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT .—The table of sec-1
tions at the beginning of such chapter is amended 2
by inserting after the item relating to section 3699B 3
the following new item: 4
‘‘3699C. High technology program.’’.
(b) EFFECT ONHIGHTECHNOLOGY PILOTPRO-5
GRAM.—Section 116 of the Harry W. Colmery Veterans 6
Educational Assistance Act of 2017 (Public Law 115–48; 7
38 U.S.C. 3001 note) is amended— 8
(1) in subsection (g), by striking paragraph (6); 9
and 10
(2) by striking subsection (h) and inserting the 11
following new subsection (h): 12
‘‘(h) T
ERMINATION.—The authority to carry out a 13
pilot program under this section shall terminate Sep-14
tember 30, 2023.’’. 15
(c) A
PPROVAL OFCERTAINHIGHTECHNOLOGYPRO-16
GRAMS.—Section 3680A of title 38, United States Code, 17
is amended— 18
(1) in subsection (a), by striking paragraph (4) 19
and inserting the following: 20
‘‘(4) Any independent study program except— 21
‘‘(A) an independent study program (in-22
cluding such a program taken over open circuit 23
television) that— 24
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‘‘(i) is accredited by an accrediting 1
agency or association recognized by the 2
Secretary of Education under subpart 2 of 3
part H of title IV of the Higher Education 4
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1099b); 5
‘‘(ii) leads to— 6
‘‘(I) a standard college degree; 7
‘‘(II) a certificate that reflects 8
educational attainment offered by an 9
institution of higher learning; or 10
‘‘(III) a certificate that reflects 11
graduation from a course of study of-12
fered by— 13
‘‘(aa) an area career and 14
technical education school (as de-15
fined in subparagraphs (C) and 16
(D) of section 3(3) of the Carl D. 17
Perkins Career and Technical 18
Education Act of 2006 (20 19
U.S.C. 2302(3))) that provides 20
education at the postsecondary 21
level; or 22
‘‘(bb) a postsecondary voca-23
tional institution (as defined in 24
section 102(c) of the Higher 25
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Education Act of 1965 (20 1
U.S.C. 1002(c))) that provides 2
education at the postsecondary 3
level; and 4
‘‘(iii) in the case of a program de-5
scribed in clause (ii)(III)— 6
‘‘(I) provides training aligned 7
with the requirements of employers in 8
the State or local area where the pro-9
gram is located, which may include in- 10
demand industry sectors or occupa-11
tions; 12
‘‘(II) provides a student, upon 13
graduation from the program, with a 14
recognized postsecondary credential 15
that is recognized by employers in the 16
relevant industry, which may include 17
a credential recognized by industry or 18
sector partnerships in the State or 19
local area where the industry is lo-20
cated; and 21
‘‘(III) meets such content and in-22
structional standards as may be re-23
quired to comply with the criteria 24
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under section 3676(c)(14) and (15) of 1
this title; or 2
‘‘(B) an online high technology program of 3
education (as defined in subsection (h) of sec-4
tion 3699C of this title)— 5
‘‘(i) the provider of which has entered 6
into a contract with the Secretary under 7
subsection (c) of such section; 8
‘‘(ii) that has been provided to covered 9
individuals (as defined in subsection (h) of 10
such section) under such contract for a pe-11
riod of at least five years; 12
‘‘(iii) regarding which the Secretary 13
has determined that the average employ-14
ment rate of covered individuals who grad-15
uated from such program of education is 16
65 percent or higher for the year preceding 17
such determination; and 18
‘‘(iv) that satisfies the requirements of 19
subsection (e) of such section.’’; and 20
(2) in subsection (d), by adding at the end the 21
following: 22
‘‘(8) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to the enrollment 23
of a veteran in an online high technology program de-24
scribed in subsection (a)(4)(B).’’. 25
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(d) EFFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 1
subsections (a) and (c) shall take effect on October 1, 2
2023. 3
(e) R
ECISSION OF CERTAINAMOUNTSAPPRO-4
PRIATED BYAMERICANRESCUEPLANACT OF2021.— 5
Of the amounts appropriated by section 8002 of the Amer-6
ican Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117–2) that 7
remain unobligated on the date of the enactment of this 8
Act, $700,000,000 is rescinded. 9
Æ
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