E–BOOK Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4414 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to lower the cost of college education by establishing pilot programs to expand student access to digital course materials. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 19, 2019 Ms. DELBENE (for herself, Mr. HARDER of California, and Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Education and Labor A BILL To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to lower the cost of college education by establishing pilot programs to expand student access to digital course materials. 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 ‘‘Electronic Books 4 Opening Opportunity for Knowledge Act of 2019’’ or the 5 ‘‘E–BOOK Act of 2019’’. 6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 7 The purpose of this Act is to identify savings in the 8 cost of higher education for undergraduate students by 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:03 Sep 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4414.IH H4414 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 4414 IH funding pilot programs to expand student access to digital 1 academic course materials. 2 SEC. 3. GRANTS TO EXPAND ACCESS TO DIGITAL COURSE 3 MATERIALS. 4 Title VIII of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 5 U.S.C. 1161a et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 6 the following new part: 7 ‘‘PART BB—GRANTS FOR THE EXPANSION OF 8 ACCESS TO DIGITAL COURSE MATERIALS 9 ‘‘SEC. 899. GRANTS FOR ACCESS TO DIGITAL COURSE MATE- 10 RIALS. 11 ‘‘(a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.— 12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—From amounts made avail- 13 able by the Secretary that are not otherwise obli- 14 gated, the Secretary may award grants on a com- 15 petitive basis to not more than 10 institutions of 16 higher education to reduce the cost of attendance for 17 undergraduate students by providing such students 18 with expanded access to digital course materials. 19 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT OF FUNDS TO BE AWARDED.— 20 The Secretary shall determine the amount of funds 21 to be awarded for each grant based on the number 22 of students to be served under the grant, except that 23 no grant under this section shall be in an amount 24 that is more than $2,000,000. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:03 Sep 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4414.IH H4414 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 4414 IH ‘‘(b) APPLICATION.—An institution desiring to obtain 1 a grant under this section shall submit an application to 2 the Secretary at such time, in such form, and accompanied 3 by such information, agreements, and assurances as the 4 Secretary may reasonably require. 5 ‘‘(c) PREFERENCE.—In awarding grants under this 6 section, the Secretary shall give preference to applications 7 that demonstrate a commitment to serving disadvantaged 8 students. 9 ‘‘(d) USE OF FUNDS.—Each grant awarded under 10 this section shall provide to an institution of higher edu- 11 cation funds to support a pilot program for the institution 12 to make digital course materials available to under- 13 graduate students in at least two different academic de- 14 partments. Such funds may be used for any of the fol- 15 lowing: 16 ‘‘(1) Purchasing and maintaining electronic 17 equipment or software necessary for the operation of 18 the pilot program, including mobile computer devices 19 and accompanying hardware, software applications, 20 computer systems and platforms, and other digital 21 and online services and support. 22 ‘‘(2) Maintaining digital and online content for 23 the institution to make available electronically to in- 24 structors or students. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:03 Sep 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4414.IH H4414 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 4414 IH ‘‘(3) Hiring staff for the administration of the 1 pilot program, with priority given to hiring enrolled 2 undergraduate students. 3 ‘‘(4) Building or acquiring extra storage space 4 dedicated to equipment used for the pilot program. 5 ‘‘(5) Supporting professional development ac- 6 tivities for instructors, instructional aides, or other 7 personnel as needed to support implementation of 8 the pilot program. 9 ‘‘(6) Revising and adapting academic curricula 10 as needed to implement the pilot program. 11 ‘‘(7) Acquiring such other goods or services as 12 the Secretary determines appropriate. 13 ‘‘(e) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 14 ‘‘(1) REPORT TO THE SECRETARY.—After a pe- 15 riod of time to be determined by the Secretary, each 16 institution of higher education that receives a grant 17 under this section shall submit to the Secretary a re- 18 port that includes— 19 ‘‘(A) an assessment of the effectiveness of 20 the pilot program funded by the grant in reduc- 21 ing the cost of attendance for students; 22 ‘‘(B) an assessment of any impact of the 23 pilot program on student achievement; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:03 Sep 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4414.IH H4414 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 4414 IH ‘‘(C) an accounting of the purposes for 1 which the grant funds were expended; and 2 ‘‘(D) any additional information the Sec- 3 retary reasonably requires. 4 ‘‘(2) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 5 three years after the end of the first fiscal year in 6 which a grant is awarded under this section, the 7 Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on the 8 effectiveness of the grants. Such report shall in- 9 clude— 10 ‘‘(A) an estimate by the Secretary of the 11 amount of money saved by students who par- 12 ticipate in the pilot programs; 13 ‘‘(B) a summary of the best practices de- 14 veloped in the pilot programs; 15 ‘‘(C) a description of the types of digital 16 course materials used in the pilot programs, in- 17 cluding electronic books, interactive and adapt- 18 ive digital learning tools, and open educational 19 resources; and 20 ‘‘(D) any recommendations the Secretary 21 determines appropriate regarding future con- 22 gressional action related to student access to 23 digital course materials. 24 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:03 Sep 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4414.IH H4414 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 4414 IH ‘‘(1) COST OF ATTENDANCE.—The term ‘cost of 1 attendance’ has the meaning given the term in sec- 2 tion 472. 3 ‘‘(2) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.— 4 The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the 5 meaning given the term in section 101(a), except 6 that such term only includes public institutions. 7 ‘‘(3) DIGITAL COURSE MATERIALS.—The term 8 ‘digital course materials’ includes electronic books, 9 portable document format and word-processing docu- 10 ments, internet websites, interactive and adaptive 11 digital learning tools, open educational resources, 12 and other digital and online educational resources. 13 ‘‘(4) OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES.—The 14 term ‘open educational resources’ means digital 15 course materials that are made freely available on- 16 line to the public with a permanent copyright license 17 granting advance permission for the public to access, 18 distribute, adapt, and otherwise use the work with 19 appropriate attribution to the authors as set forth in 20 the materials. 21 ‘‘(5) MOBILE COMPUTER DEVICE.—The term 22 ‘mobile computer device’ means an electronic reader 23 or tablet computer. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:03 Sep 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4414.IH H4414 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 4414 IH ‘‘(6) DISADVANTAGED STUDENT.—The term 1 ‘disadvantaged student’ means an undergraduate 2 student who is— 3 ‘‘(A) from a low-income family; 4 ‘‘(B) a minority; or 5 ‘‘(C) from an economically or otherwise 6 disadvantaged background. 7 ‘‘(g) SUNSET.—No grants may be awarded under this 8 section after September 30, 2021.’’. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:03 Sep 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4414.IH H4414 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS