Educational Opportunity and Success Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1803 To modify the Federal TRIO programs. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 12, 2019 Ms. COLLINS (for herself, Ms. BALDWIN, Mrs. CAPITO, and Mr. TESTER) in- troduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To modify the Federal TRIO programs. 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 ‘‘Educational Oppor- 4 tunity and Success Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. FEDERAL TRIO PROGRAMS AMENDMENTS. 6 (a) REVIEW AND NOTIFICATION BY THE SEC- 7 RETARY.—Section 402A(c) of the Higher Education Act 8 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a–11(c)) is amended by striking 9 paragraph (8) and inserting the following: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:20 Jun 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1803.IS S1803 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1803 IS ‘‘(8) REVIEW AND NOTIFICATION BY THE SEC- 1 RETARY.— 2 ‘‘(A) GUIDANCE.—Not less than 90 days 3 before the commencement of each competition 4 for a grant under this chapter, the Secretary 5 shall issue nonregulatory guidance regarding 6 the rights and responsibilities of applicants with 7 respect to the application and evaluation proc- 8 ess for programs and projects assisted under 9 this chapter, including applicant access to peer 10 review comments. The guidance shall describe 11 the procedures for the submission, processing, 12 and scoring of applications for grants under 13 this chapter, including the information de- 14 scribed in subparagraph (B). 15 ‘‘(B) TECHNICAL COMPONENTS OF APPLI- 16 CATIONS.— 17 ‘‘(i) ESTABLISHMENT AND TREAT- 18 MENT OF NONSUBSTANTIVE TECHNICAL 19 COMPONENTS OF APPLICATIONS.—With re- 20 spect to any competition for a grant under 21 this chapter, the Secretary may only estab- 22 lish voluntary page limit and formatting 23 requirements for grant applications and 24 may not reject grant applications that do 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:20 Jun 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1803.IS S1803 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1803 IS not meet those voluntary requirements. 1 The Secretary may suggest page limits and 2 formatting standards, (including with re- 3 spect to font size, font style, font type, line 4 spacing, paragraph justification, and page 5 margins), but may not use noncompliance 6 with these suggested requirements as a 7 basis to reject or penalize grant applica- 8 tions. 9 ‘‘(ii) IDENTIFICATION AND TREAT- 10 MENT OF TECHNICAL BUDGET ERRORS IN 11 APPLICATIONS.— 12 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—With respect 13 to any competition for a grant under 14 this chapter, the Secretary may not 15 reject or penalize grant applications 16 on the basis of a typographical or 17 rounding error in a proposed budget 18 until the Secretary has given the ap- 19 plicant an opportunity for correction 20 in accordance with subclause (II). 21 ‘‘(II) NOTICE AND OPPORTUNITY 22 FOR CORRECTION.—The Secretary 23 shall provide notice and identification 24 of an error described in subclause (I) 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:20 Jun 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1803.IS S1803 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1803 IS by email and phone to the applicant 1 before awarding grants for each com- 2 petition. During a period of not fewer 3 than 14 days, the Secretary shall 4 allow the applicant to submit a re- 5 vised application that corrects the 6 identified error. 7 ‘‘(III) TREATMENT OF REVISED 8 APPLICATIONS.—The Secretary shall 9 treat the revised application in the 10 same manner as a timely submitted 11 application. 12 ‘‘(IV) FAILURE TO CORRECT.—If 13 an applicant has received a notice and 14 opportunity for correction of a typo- 15 graphical or rounding error in a pro- 16 posed budget in accordance with sub- 17 clause (II) and the applicant fails to 18 correct the error and submit a revised 19 application before the deadline de- 20 scribed in that subclause, the Sec- 21 retary may reject or penalize that 22 grant application. 23 ‘‘(C) REVIEW.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:20 Jun 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1803.IS S1803 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1803 IS ‘‘(i) REQUEST FOR REVIEW.—With 1 respect to any competition for a grant 2 under this chapter, an applicant may re- 3 quest a review if the applicant— 4 ‘‘(I) has evidence that a specific 5 technical, administrative, or scoring 6 error was made by the Department, 7 an agent of the Department, or a peer 8 reviewer, with respect to the scoring 9 or processing of a submitted applica- 10 tion; and 11 ‘‘(II) has otherwise met all of the 12 requirements for submission of the 13 application. 14 ‘‘(ii) ERROR MADE BY THE DEPART- 15 MENT.—In the case of evidence of error by 16 the Department or an agent of the Depart- 17 ment, other than a peer reviewer, the Sec- 18 retary shall review any evidence submitted 19 by the applicant and provide a timely re- 20 sponse to the applicant. If the Secretary 21 determines that an error was made by the 22 Department or an agent of the Depart- 23 ment, other than a peer reviewer, the Sec- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:20 Jun 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1803.IS S1803 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1803 IS retary shall correct the error and accord- 1 ingly adjust the applicant score. 2 ‘‘(iii) ERROR MADE BY A PEER RE- 3 VIEWER.— 4 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—In the case 5 of evidence of error by a peer re- 6 viewer, a secondary review panel shall 7 automatically and promptly evaluate 8 the application for consideration in 9 the applicable grant competition upon 10 receipt of a request by any such appli- 11 cant. Examples of errors warranting 12 secondary review may include— 13 ‘‘(aa) points withheld for 14 criteria not required in statute, 15 regulation, or guidance governing 16 a program under this chapter or 17 the application for a grant for 18 such program; or 19 ‘‘(bb) information pertaining 20 to selection criteria that was in- 21 correctly determined to be miss- 22 ing from an application. 23 ‘‘(II) TIMELY REVIEW AND RE- 24 PLACEMENT SCORE.—The secondary 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:20 Jun 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1803.IS S1803 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1803 IS review panel described in subclause (I) 1 shall conduct a secondary review in a 2 timely fashion, and the score resulting 3 from the secondary review shall re- 4 place the score from the initial peer 5 review. 6 ‘‘(III) COMPOSITION OF SEC- 7 ONDARY REVIEW PANEL.—The sec- 8 ondary review panel shall be composed 9 of reviewers each of whom— 10 ‘‘(aa) did not review the ap- 11 plication in the original peer re- 12 view; 13 ‘‘(bb) is a member of the co- 14 hort of peer reviewers for the 15 grant program that is the subject 16 of such secondary review; and 17 ‘‘(cc) to the extent prac- 18 ticable, has conducted peer re- 19 views in not less than 2 previous 20 competitions for the grant pro- 21 gram that is the subject of such 22 secondary review. 23 ‘‘(IV) FINAL SCORE.—The final 24 peer review score of an application 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:20 Jun 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1803.IS S1803 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1803 IS subject to a secondary review under 1 this clause shall promptly be adjusted 2 appropriately using the score awarded 3 by the secondary review panel, so as 4 not to interfere with the timely award- 5 ing of grants for the applicable grant 6 competition. 7 ‘‘(iv) FINALITY.— 8 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—A determina- 9 tion by the Secretary under clause (ii) 10 shall not be reviewable by any officer 11 or employee of the Department other 12 than the Secretary. 13 ‘‘(II) SCORING.—The score 14 awarded by a secondary review panel 15 under clause (iii) shall not be review- 16 able by any officer or employee of the 17 Department other than the Secretary. 18 ‘‘(v) FUNDING OF APPLICATIONS 19 WITH CERTAIN ADJUSTED SCORES.—Appli- 20 cations with scores that are adjusted up- 21 ward under clause (ii) or (iii) that equal or 22 exceed the minimum cut-off score for the 23 applicable grant competition shall be fund- 24 ed by the Secretary using general or ad- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:20 Jun 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1803.IS S1803 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1803 IS ministrative funds available to the Sec- 1 retary other than those funds appropriated 2 or allocated for the programs authorized 3 by this chapter.’’. 4 (b) OUTREACH.—Section 402A(d)(3) of the Higher 5 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a–11(d)(3)) is 6 amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘The Sec- 7 retary shall also host at least one virtual, interactive train- 8 ing using telecommunications technology to ensure that 9 interested applicants have access to technical assistance.’’. 10 (c) DOCUMENTATION OF STATUS AS A LOW-INCOME 11 INDIVIDUAL.—Section 402A(e) of the Higher Education 12 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a–11(e)) is amended— 13 (1) in paragraph (1)— 14 (A) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘or’’ 15 after the semicolon; 16 (B) in subparagraph (D), by striking the 17 period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 18 and 19 (C) by adding at the end the following: 20 ‘‘(E) documentation that the student has 21 been determined to be eligible for a Federal Pell 22 Grant under section 401; or 23 ‘‘(F) for grants authorized under section 24 402B and 402F of this chapter, documentation 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:20 Jun 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1803.IS S1803 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1803 IS that a student is attending a school that had a 1 percentage of enrolled students who are identi- 2 fied students (as defined in section 3 11(a)(1)(F)(i) of the Richard B. Russell Na- 4 tional School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 5 1759a(a)(1)(F)(i))) that meets or exceeds the 6 threshold described in section 11(a)(1)(F)(viii) 7 of that Act during the school year prior to the 8 first year of the period for which such grant is 9 awarded.’’; and 10 (2) in paragraph (2)— 11 (A) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘or’’ 12 after the semicolon; 13 (B) in subparagraph (D), by striking the 14 period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 15 and 16 (C) by adding at the end the following: 17 ‘‘(E) documentation that the student has 18 been determined to be eligible for a Federal Pell 19 Grant under section 401; or 20 ‘‘(F) for grants authorized under section 21 402B and 402F of this chapter, documentation 22 that a student is attending a school that had a 23 percentage of enrolled students who are identi- 24 fied students (as defined in section 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:20 Jun 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1803.IS S1803 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1803 IS 11(a)(1)(F)(i) of the Richard B. Russell Na- 1 tional School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 2 1759a(a)(1)(F)(i))) that meets or exceeds the 3 threshold described in section 11(a)(1)(F)(viii) 4 of that Act during the school year prior to the 5 first year of the period for which such grant is 6 awarded.’’. 7 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 8 402A(g) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 9 1070a–11(g)) is amended to read as follows: 10 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the 11 purpose of making grants and contracts under this chap- 12 ter, there are authorized to be appropriated 13 $1,060,000,000 for fiscal year 2020 and such sums as 14 may be necessary for each of the five succeeding fiscal 15 years. Of the amount appropriated under this chapter, the 16 Secretary may use no more than 1 percent of such amount 17 to obtain additional qualified readers and additional staff 18 to review applications, to increase the level of oversight 19 monitoring, to support impact studies, program assess- 20 ments, and reviews, and to provide technical assistance to 21 potential applicants and current grantees.’’. 22 (e) DEFINITIONS.—Section 402A(h) of the Higher 23 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a–11(h)) is 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:20 Jun 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1803.IS S1803 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 1803 IS amended by striking paragraph (4) and inserting the fol- 1 lowing: 2 ‘‘(4) LOW-INCOME INDIVIDUAL.—The term 3 ‘low-income individual’ means— 4 ‘‘(A) an individual from a family whose ad- 5 justable gross income for the preceding year did 6 not exceed 150 percent of an amount equal to 7 the poverty level determined by using criteria of 8 poverty established by the Bureau of the Cen- 9 sus; 10 ‘‘(B) an individual from a family whose ad- 11 justable gross income, as reported on the indi- 12 vidual’s most recently completed Free Applica- 13 tion for Federal Student Aid, did not exceed 14 150 percent of an amount equal to the poverty 15 level determined by using criteria of poverty es- 16 tablished by the Bureau of the Census for that 17 year; 18 ‘‘(C) an individual who has been deter- 19 mined to be eligible for a Federal Pell Grant 20 under section 401; or 21 ‘‘(D) for grants authorized under section 22 402B and 402F of this chapter, a student who 23 is attending a school that had a percentage of 24 enrolled students who are identified students 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:20 Jun 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1803.IS S1803 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •S 1803 IS (as defined in section 11(a)(1)(F)(i) of the 1 Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 2 (42 U.S.C. 1759a(a)(1)(F)(i))) that meets or 3 exceeds the threshold described in section 4 11(a)(1)(F)(viii) of that Act during the school 5 year prior to the first year of the period for 6 which such grant is awarded.’’. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:20 Jun 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1803.IS S1803 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS