Passport Assistance for Disadvantaged Students Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3503 To direct the Secretary of Education to carry out a pilot program to make grants to institutions of higher education to pay the costs of obtaining a United States passport necessary for certain students to participate in a study abroad program. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 26, 2019 Ms. JOHNSON of Texas (for herself and Mr. YOUNG) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To direct the Secretary of Education to carry out a pilot program to make grants to institutions of higher edu- cation to pay the costs of obtaining a United States passport necessary for certain students to participate in a study abroad program. 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 ‘‘Passport Assistance 4 for Disadvantaged Students Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:03 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3503.IH H3503 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3503 IH SEC. 2. DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM. 1 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretary shall carry out 2 a pilot program to make grants to institutions of higher 3 education to— 4 (1) reimburse a student who is a Pell Grant re- 5 cipient enrolled at the institution for the costs of ob- 6 taining a United States passport necessary for such 7 student to participate in a study abroad program; 8 and 9 (2) in coordination with the Secretary of State, 10 directly pay the costs described in paragraph (1) in 11 the case of a United States passport event carried 12 out by the Secretary of State on the campus of such 13 institution. 14 (b) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 15 under this section, an institution of higher education shall, 16 not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of 17 this Act, submit an application to the Secretary that in- 18 cludes— 19 (1) the number of Pell Grant recipients enrolled 20 at the institution that participated in a study abroad 21 program during each of the 5 years before the date 22 of such application; 23 (2) an assurance that the institution will report 24 to the Secretary the number of Pell Grant recipients 25 enrolled at the institution that participated in a 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:03 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3503.IH H3503 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3503 IH study abroad program annually for each of the 4 1 years after the date on which the application is sub- 2 mitted; 3 (3) a description of how the institution will en- 4 gage in student outreach in carrying a grant under 5 this section; 6 (4) such other information as the Secretary 7 may require. 8 (c) AWARDS.— 9 (1) REQUIREMENTS.—Not later than 2 years 10 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec- 11 retary shall make grants under subsection (a) to 12 each of the following: 13 (A) A four-year public institution of higher 14 education. 15 (B) A public historically Black college or 16 university. 17 (C) A public Hispanic-serving institution. 18 (2) OTHER AWARDS.—After making the awards 19 required under paragraph (1), the Secretary— 20 (A) may make grants to additional institu- 21 tions of higher education; and 22 (B) shall give priority under subparagraph 23 (A) to institutions of higher education with 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:03 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3503.IH H3503 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3503 IH study abroad programs that offer science, tech- 1 nology, engineering, and math courses. 2 (d) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 3 (1) INSTITUTION REPORTING.—An institution 4 of higher education that receives a grant under this 5 section shall not later than 1 year after receiving 6 such grant submit to the Secretary and the Sec- 7 retary of State a report that includes— 8 (A) a description of the student outreach 9 carried out through a grant under this section; 10 and 11 (B) the number of Pell Grant recipients 12 who— 13 (i) obtained a United States passport 14 pursuant to such grant; and 15 (ii) participated in a study abroad 16 program in the year after the institution 17 received such grant. 18 (2) DEPARTMENT REPORTING.—Not later than 19 1 year after the date of the enactment of this sec- 20 tion, and annually for the 3 years thereafter, the 21 Secretary, in coordination with the Secretary of 22 State, shall submit a report to Congress that in- 23 cludes— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:03 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3503.IH H3503 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3503 IH (A) a description of the awards made 1 under this section; and 2 (B) an assessment of the pilot program 3 under this section. 4 (e) FINAL ASSESSMENT.—Not later than 1 year after 5 the date on which the pilot program authority terminates 6 under subsection (f), the Secretary and the Secretary of 7 State shall each— 8 (1) prepare an assessment of the pilot program, 9 including a recommendation as to whether— 10 (A) the pilot program should be continued 11 and expanded; or 12 (B) a similar program related to other 13 higher education programs, such as graduate 14 and postgraduate programs, community col- 15 leges, vocational programs, and apprenticeship 16 programs, should be carried out; and 17 (2) submit such assessment to Congress. 18 (f) TERM.—The authority to carry out the pilot pro- 19 gram under this section shall terminate on the date that 20 is 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. 21 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 22 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 23 $500,000 for fiscal year 2021 and each of the succeeding 24 3 fiscal years. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:03 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3503.IH H3503 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3503 IH (h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 1 (1) HISPANIC-SERVING INSTITUTION.—The 2 term ‘‘Hispanic-serving institution’’ has the meaning 3 given the term under section 502 of the Higher 4 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1101a). 5 (2) HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGE OR UNI- 6 VERSITY.—The term ‘‘historically Black college or 7 university’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘part B 8 institution’’ under section 322(2) of the Higher 9 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061(2)). 10 (3) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 11 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 12 meaning given the term in section 101 of the Higher 13 Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1002). 14 (4) PELL GRANT RECIPIENT.—The term ‘‘Pell 15 Grant recipient’’ means a recipient of financial aid 16 under subpart 1 of part A of title IV of the Higher 17 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a et seq.). 18 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 19 the Secretary of Education. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:03 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3503.IH H3503 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS