Homeland Security University-Based Centers Review Act
Latest action. Referred to the subcommitteeA smaller panel inside a standing committee with jurisdiction over a slice of its subject matter. Most hearings and the first markup usually happen here.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) on Research and Technology.
Homeland Security University-based Centers Review Act
(Sec. 2) Directs the Government Accountability Office to initiate a study to assess the university-based centers for homeland security program authorized by the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and provide recommendations to the Committee on Homeland Security and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, for appropriate improvements.
Requires the study to:
review the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS's) efforts to identify key areas of study needed to support the homeland security mission and criteria that DHS utilized to determine those key areas for which it should maintain, establish, or eliminate university-based centers;
review the method by which university-based centers, federally funded research and development centers, and Department of Energy national laboratories receive tasking from DHS;
review and weight selection criteria for designating university-based centers;
examine best practices from other agencies' efforts to organize and use university-based research to support their missions;
review DHS's criteria and metrics to measure demonstrable progress achieved by university-based centers in fulfilling DHS taskings and mechanisms for delivering and disseminating the research results of designated university-based centers within DHS and to other agencies;
examine means by which academic institutions that are not designated or associated with the designated university-based centers can optimally contribute to the research mission of the Directorate of Science and Technology of DHS; and
assess the interrelationship between the different university-based centers and the degree to which outreach and collaboration among a diverse array of academic institutions is encouraged by DHS.
Requires the annual report from DHS on such centers to describe:
research that has been tasked and completed by each center designated during the preceding year,
funding provided by DHS for each such center for that year, and
plans for utilization of such centers in the forthcoming year.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House amended" stage on June 23, 2015. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on August 18, 2015: Referred to the Subcommittee on Research and Technology.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 114th Congress (2015-16), 329 of the 10,233 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.2 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
BENNIE THOMPSON (D-MS) introduced it on May 18, 2015, and 1 member has since signed on as a cosponsor.
They are 1 Democrat.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on May 18, 2015, 4133 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4041 days ago, on August 18, 2015.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 114th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2017 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers