Student and Taxpayer Protection Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4206 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to include requirements for programs of training to prepare students for gainful employment in a recognized occupation. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AUGUST 23, 2019 Mr. TAKANO (for himself and Ms. SHALALA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to include requirements for programs of training to prepare stu- dents for gainful employment in a recognized occupation. 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 ‘‘Student and Taxpayer 4 Protection Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS. 6 Part A of title I of the Higher Education Act of 1965 7 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 8 the following: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:53 Aug 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4206.IH H4206 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 4206 IH ‘‘SEC. 104. PROGRAM OF TRAINING TO PREPARE STUDENTS 1 FOR GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT IN A RECOG- 2 NIZED OCCUPATION. 3 ‘‘(a) GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM DEFINED.— 4 In this Act (including for purposes of sections 101 and 5 102), the term ‘program of training to prepare students 6 for gainful employment in a recognized occupation’ (in 7 this section referred to as ‘training program’) means a 8 training program that— 9 ‘‘(1) is in compliance with the performance 10 metrics (including the eligibility thresholds for each 11 such metric) established under subsection (b)(1); 12 ‘‘(2) is in compliance with the notice require- 13 ments under subsection (b)(1)(C)(i)(II); 14 ‘‘(3) is otherwise eligible to receive funds under 15 title IV; and 16 ‘‘(4) is not a training program that is substan- 17 tially similar to a training program which, during a 18 period determined by the Secretary, did not meet 19 one or more of the performance metrics (such as an 20 eligibility threshold) described in paragraph (1). 21 ‘‘(b) SECRETARIAL REQUIREMENTS.— 22 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT OF REQUIREMENTS.— 23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 24 months after the date of enactment of the Stu- 25 dent and Taxpayer Protection Act, the Sec- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:53 Aug 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4206.IH H4206 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 4206 IH retary shall establish requirements for training 1 programs to be eligible training programs for 2 purposes of receiving funds under title IV, 3 which shall include— 4 ‘‘(i) establishing performance metrics 5 (including eligibility thresholds for each 6 such metric) described in subparagraph 7 (B); and 8 ‘‘(ii) developing a disclosure template 9 and a verification process for disclosures 10 described in subparagraph (C). 11 ‘‘(B) PERFORMANCE METRICS.— 12 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In establishing the 13 performance metrics under subparagraph 14 (A)(i), the Secretary shall, at a minimum, 15 establish the requirements for a debt-to- 16 earnings rate that serves the best interests 17 of students and taxpayers, which shall in- 18 clude— 19 ‘‘(I) a methodology for calcu- 20 lating such debt-to-earnings rate for a 21 training program, including— 22 ‘‘(aa) a definition of the co- 23 hort of individuals on whom such 24 rate shall be based, who shall be 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:53 Aug 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4206.IH H4206 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 4206 IH selected from the individuals who 1 were enrolled in such training 2 program (without regard to 3 whether the individuals received 4 a loan for such enrollment); 5 ‘‘(bb) a determination of the 6 debt amount for such rate based 7 on the median annual loan pay- 8 ment for the loans made under 9 title IV and the private education 10 loans received for such enroll- 11 ment by such cohort; and 12 ‘‘(cc) a determination of the 13 earnings amount for such rate 14 based on the mean or median of 15 the actual, student-level annual 16 earnings for such cohort; 17 ‘‘(II) establishing a process (such 18 as an appeals process) to authorize 19 training programs to use alternate 20 earnings in lieu of the mean or me- 21 dian of the actual, student-level an- 22 nual earnings of a cohort; and 23 ‘‘(III) establishing a threshold 24 rate that each training program shall 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:53 Aug 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4206.IH H4206 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 4206 IH meet to be eligible to receive funds 1 under title IV. 2 ‘‘(ii) EARNINGS DATA.—In deter- 3 mining the mean or median of the actual, 4 student-level annual earnings for purposes 5 of this subparagraph, the Secretary shall 6 obtain and use the most currently available 7 Federal data on such earnings. 8 ‘‘(C) DISCLOSURE TEMPLATE.—The Sec- 9 retary shall develop— 10 ‘‘(i) a disclosure template that— 11 ‘‘(I) is consumer tested; and 12 ‘‘(II) is used by each training 13 program to provide enrolled and pro- 14 spective students (including through 15 publication on the website of the pro- 16 gram)— 17 ‘‘(aa) on an annual basis, 18 student outcome information for 19 such program (including the 20 debt-to-earnings rate and wheth- 21 er the eligibility threshold for any 22 other performance metric estab- 23 lished under subparagraph (A)(i) 24 has been met); and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:53 Aug 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4206.IH H4206 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 4206 IH ‘‘(bb) in a case in which the 1 training program receives a no- 2 tice of determination under para- 3 graph (2)(B) that the program 4 may be ineligible for funds under 5 title IV, or may receive other 6 sanctions, not later than 30 days 7 after receipt of such notice, an 8 explanation of such notice of de- 9 termination; and 10 ‘‘(ii) a process to annually verify that 11 each training program is providing the dis- 12 closures required under clause (i)(II). 13 ‘‘(2) ENFORCEMENT OF REQUIREMENTS.—Not 14 later than 2 years after the Secretary establishes re- 15 quirements under paragraph (1), and annually 16 thereafter, the Secretary shall, with respect to each 17 training program— 18 ‘‘(A) calculate the debt-to-earnings rate 19 and assess performance with respect to any 20 other metric established under paragraph 21 (1)(A)(i) for the preceding award year, and 22 make such information publicly available on the 23 website of the Department of Education; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:53 Aug 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4206.IH H4206 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 4206 IH ‘‘(B) issue a notice of determination on 1 whether the program is meeting the require- 2 ments established by the Secretary, including 3 whether the program shall be subject to sanc- 4 tions (such as loss of eligibility under title IV); 5 and 6 ‘‘(C) enforce the applicable sanctions.’’. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:53 Aug 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4206.IH H4206 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS