HB 156

            
2020 SESSION

20101970D

HOUSE BILL NO. 156


Offered January 8, 2020


Prefiled December 20, 2019

A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section 
 numbered 22.1-204.3, relating to the establishment of the Critical National 
 Security Language Grant Fund and Program.
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Patrons-- Sickles and Lopez

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Referred to Committee on Education

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Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
 
 
1. That the Code of Virginia is amended by adding a section 
 numbered 22.1-204.3 as follows:
 
 
� 22.1-204.3. Critical 
 National Security Language Grant Fund and 
 Program established.
 
 
A. There 
 is hereby created in the state treasury a special nonreverting fund to be known 
 as the Critical National Security Language Grant Fund, 
 referred to in this section as "the Fund." The Fund shall be 
 established on the books of the Comptroller. All gifts, 
 grants, and donations from public or 
 private sources shall be paid into the state treasury and credited 
 to the Fund. Interest earned on moneys in the Fund shall remain in the Fund and 
 be credited to it. Any moneys remaining in the Fund, including interest 
 thereon, at the end of each fiscal year shall not revert to the general fund 
 but shall remain in the Fund. Moneys in the Fund shall be used solely for the 
 purposes of awarding grants on a competitive basis through the Critical 
 National Security Language Grant Program 
 established pursuant to subsection B. Expenditures and 
 disbursements from the Fund shall be made by the State Treasurer on warrants 
 issued by the Comptroller upon written request signed by the Superintendent of 
 Public Instruction.
 
 
B. The Critical National 
 Security Language Grant Program 
 (Program) is established within the Department of Education for the 
 purpose of awarding grants on a competitive basis to any 
 school division that provides a 
 foreign language course in a foreign 
 language that is currently identified 
 as critical by the National Security Language Initiative for 
 Youth scholarship program.
 
 
C. Grants made by the 
 Department of Education to a 
 local school division pursuant to the Program 
 are limited to $5,000 per student who successfully 
 completes a critical foreign language course per 
 school year.
 
 
2. That the Department of Education 
 shall maintain and periodically update a list of foreign languages that 
 are currently identified as critical by the National Security Language Initiative 
 for Youth scholarship program for the purposes of the Critical National 
 Security Language Grant Program, as created by this act.