STEM Research and Education Effectiveness and Transparency Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 627 To provide for a report on broadening participation in certain National Science Foundation research and education programs, to collect data on Federal research grants to science agencies, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 16, 2019 Mr. WITTMAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology A BILL To provide for a report on broadening participation in certain National Science Foundation research and education pro- grams, to collect data on Federal research grants to science agencies, 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘STEM Research and 4 Education Effectiveness and Transparency Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jan 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H627.IH H627 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 627 IH SEC. 2. BROADENING PARTICIPATION IN STEM PROGRAM 1 EFFECTIVENESS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 12 months after 3 the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Na- 4 tional Science Foundation shall submit a report to Con- 5 gress on the effectiveness of all National Science Founda- 6 tion research and education programs for broadening the 7 participation of women and other historically underrep- 8 resented individuals in STEM studies and careers, includ- 9 ing— 10 (1) development or identification of perform- 11 ance metrics to evaluate such programs; 12 (2) information on student outcomes using all 13 available data, including dropout rates, enrollment in 14 graduate programs, internships or apprenticeships, 15 and employment; 16 (3) identification of any data gaps for evalu- 17 ating the effectiveness and outcomes of National 18 Science Foundation programs to broaden participa- 19 tion; and 20 (4) recommendations for maintaining, trans- 21 lating, and disseminating outcomes data for STEM 22 programs funded by the National Science Founda- 23 tion. 24 (b) DEFINITION OF STEM.—In this section, the 25 term ‘‘STEM’’ has the meaning given the term in section 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jan 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H627.IH H627 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 627 IH 2 of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 1 2010 (42 U.S.C. 6621 note). 2 SEC. 3. COLLECTION AND REPORTING OF DATA ON FED- 3 ERAL RESEARCH GRANTS. 4 (a) COLLECTION OF DATA.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each Federal science agency 6 shall collect standardized record-level annual infor- 7 mation on demographics, primary field, award type, 8 review rating, budget request, funding outcome, and 9 awarded budget for all applications for merit-re- 10 viewed research and development grants to institu- 11 tions of higher education and Federal laboratories 12 supported by that agency. 13 (2) UNIFORMITY AND STANDARDIZATION.—The 14 Director shall establish a policy to ensure uniformity 15 and standardization of the data collection required 16 under paragraph (1). 17 (3) RECORD-LEVEL DATA.— 18 (A) REQUIREMENT.—On an annual basis, 19 beginning with the deadline under subpara- 20 graph (C), each Federal science agency shall 21 submit to the Director of the National Science 22 Foundation record-level data collected under 23 paragraph (1) in the form required by such Di- 24 rector. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jan 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H627.IH H627 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 627 IH (B) PREVIOUS DATA.—As part of the first 1 submission under subparagraph (A), each Fed- 2 eral science agency, to the extent practicable, 3 shall submit comparable record-level data for 4 the 5 years preceding the deadline under sub- 5 paragraph (C). 6 (C) DEADLINE.—The deadline under this 7 paragraph is not later than 1 year after the 8 date of enactment of this Act. 9 (b) REPORTING OF DATA.—The Director of the Na- 10 tional Science Foundation shall publish statistical sum- 11 mary data collected under this section, disaggregated and 12 cross-tabulated demographically and by years since com- 13 pletion of doctoral degree, including in conjunction with 14 the National Science Foundation’s report required by sec- 15 tion 37 of the Science and Technology Equal Opportuni- 16 ties Act (42 U.S.C. 1885d; Public Law 96–516). 17 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 18 (1) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 19 the Director of the Office of Science and Technology 20 Policy. 21 (2) FEDERAL LABORATORY.—The term ‘‘Fed- 22 eral laboratory’’ has the meaning given that term in 23 section 4 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Inno- 24 vation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3703). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jan 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H627.IH H627 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 627 IH (3) FEDERAL SCIENCE AGENCY.—The term 1 ‘‘Federal science agency’’ means any Federal agency 2 with at least $100,000,000 in research and develop- 3 ment expenditures in fiscal year 2019. 4 (4) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 5 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 6 meaning given such term in section 101(a) of the 7 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Jan 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H627.IH H627 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS