Fix America's Schools Today Act of 2011
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Fix America's Schools Today Act of 2011 - Directs the Secretary of Education to allocate grants to states and, through them, subgrants to local educational agencies (LEAs) to modernize, renovate, or repair early learning or elementary or secondary education facilities.
Requires the Secretary to allocate grants directly to the 100 LEAs with the largest numbers of children aged 5-17 living in poverty to modernize, renovate, or repair such facilities. Allocates such funds among these LEAs in proportion to each LEA's respective share of school improvement funds under part A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
Requires states to give subgrant priority to projects that comply with certain green building standards.
Prohibits the use of such grants for new construction, routine janitorial costs, or on facilities used for events for which the public is charged admission.
Reserves funds for a survey, by the National Center for Education Statistics, of our public school construction, modernization, renovation, and repair needs.
Directs the Secretary to allocate grants to states to modernize, renovate, or repair existing facilities at community colleges.
Prohibits the use of such grants: (1) for routine janitorial costs, (2) on facilities used for events for which the public is charged admission, or (3) on facilities which are used for sectarian purposes.
Requires states, in providing assistance to community college projects, to consider the extent to which the project complies with certain green building standards.
Limits the amount of time states and LEAs have to obligate this Act's grants and subgrants.
Requires, with certain exceptions, the iron, steel, and manufactured goods used in projects funded by this Act to be domestic.
Applies the prevailing wage rate requirements of the Davis-Bacon Act to projects assisted pursuant to this Act.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on September 21, 2011. 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 September 21, 2011: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- 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 112th Congress (2011-12), 283 of the 10,618 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.7 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?
Sherrod Brown (D-OH) introduced it on September 21, 2011, and 18 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 17 Democrats, 1 independent.
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 September 21, 2011, 5468 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 5468 days ago, on September 21, 2011.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 112th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2013 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
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers