PSLF Administrative Improvements Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6230 To amend the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program under the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require an on-line portal, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 12, 2020 Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania (for himself and Mr. JOYCE of Ohio) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To amend the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program under the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require an on-line portal, 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 ‘‘PSLF Administrative 4 Improvements Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:33 Mar 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6230.IH H6230 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6230 IH SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL PUBLIC SERVICE LOAN FORGIVENESS 1 PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS FOR THE SEC- 2 RETARY OF EDUCATION. 3 Section 455(m) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 4 (20 U.S.C. 1087e(m)) is amended by adding at the end 5 the following: 6 ‘‘(5) DATABASE OF PUBLIC SERVICE JOBS AND 7 ECF.— 8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 9 months after the date of enactment of the 10 PSLF Administrative Improvements Act, the 11 Secretary shall— 12 ‘‘(i) establish and maintain a publicly 13 accessible database of public service em- 14 ployers, which shall include information re- 15 quired for the process for completion of the 16 employment certifications forms required 17 under this subsection; and 18 ‘‘(ii) ensure that such employment 19 certification forms are available in lan- 20 guages other than English. 21 ‘‘(B) EMPLOYER DEFINED.—For purposes 22 of this subsection, the term ‘public service em- 23 ployer’ has the meaning given the term ‘public 24 service organization’ in section 685.219(b) of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:33 Mar 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6230.IH H6230 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6230 IH title 34, Code of Federal Regulations (or suc- 1 cessor regulations). 2 ‘‘(6) NOTICE OF PSLF REQUIREMENTS.— 3 ‘‘(A) EMPLOYERS.—With respect to each 4 employer whose contact information is main- 5 tained in the database described in paragraph 6 (5), the Secretary shall, on an annual basis and 7 in a manner that is consistent with Federal 8 laws on data privacy— 9 ‘‘(i) provide each such employer with 10 standardized information on the program 11 under this subsection, including eligibility 12 requirements; and 13 ‘‘(ii) encourage the employer to pro- 14 vide such information to new employees. 15 ‘‘(B) INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDU- 16 CATION.—With respect to each institution of 17 higher education participating in any program 18 under this title, the Secretary shall, on an an- 19 nual basis, provide each such institution with 20 standardized information on the program under 21 this subsection, including eligibility require- 22 ments. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:33 Mar 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6230.IH H6230 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6230 IH ‘‘(C) BORROWERS.—With respect to each 1 borrower who was denied loan cancellation 2 under this subsection, the Secretary shall— 3 ‘‘(i) without any further action by the 4 borrower and subject to the limitation on 5 total loan volume specified under section 6 315 of title III of division H of the Con- 7 solidation Appropriations Act, 2018 (Pub- 8 lic Law 115–141; 132 Stat. 752 et seq.) 9 and the availability of appropriations for 10 such section 315, determine whether the 11 borrower qualifies for the loan cancellation 12 program under such section 315, and if so, 13 cancel the borrower’s loans in accordance 14 with such program; and 15 ‘‘(ii) in a case in which a borrower’s 16 loans were not cancelled under clause (i), 17 notify the borrower of other options (such 18 as loan consolidation) to qualify for loan 19 cancellation under this subsection, and how 20 to successfully pursue such options. 21 ‘‘(7) DATA MATCHING AGREEMENTS.— 22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 23 enter into data matching agreements with rel- 24 evant Federal agencies who possess records 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:33 Mar 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6230.IH H6230 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6230 IH about the status of borrowers of loans made 1 under this part as employees of public service 2 employers for the purpose of eliminating, to the 3 extent practicable, the need for a borrower or 4 an employer to submit a certification of employ- 5 ment to the Secretary. 6 ‘‘(B) SPECIFIC FEDERAL AGENCIES.—Not- 7 withstanding any Federal law, the Secretary of 8 Labor, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 9 and the Commissioner of Social Security shall 10 disclose any relevant records to the Secretary 11 for the purposes of meeting the Secretary’s obli- 12 gations to reduce barriers to certification of em- 13 ployment as described in subparagraph (A). 14 ‘‘(C) NOTICE TO BORROWERS.—If the Sec- 15 retary receives employer or employment infor- 16 mation regarding a borrower from a Federal 17 agency pursuant to this paragraph, the Sec- 18 retary shall timely notify the borrower that— 19 ‘‘(i) the Secretary received the infor- 20 mation; and 21 ‘‘(ii) the borrower, for the duration of 22 the borrower’s employment by the em- 23 ployer— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:33 Mar 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6230.IH H6230 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6230 IH ‘‘(I) is not required to submit a 1 certification of employment for the 2 employer under paragraph (8); or 3 ‘‘(II) if the information is not 4 complete, only needs to submit a re- 5 duced set of information to the Sec- 6 retary for the certification of employ- 7 ment. 8 ‘‘(8) ON-LINE PORTAL.— 9 ‘‘(A) BORROWERS.—Not later than 18 10 months after the date of enactment of the 11 PSLF Administrative Improvements Act, the 12 Secretary shall ensure that borrowers have ac- 13 cess to an on-line portal that provides each bor- 14 rower who signs on to such portal with the fol- 15 lowing: 16 ‘‘(i) Instructions on how to access the 17 database under paragraph (5) so that the 18 borrower can determine whether the bor- 19 rower is employed in a public service job. 20 ‘‘(ii) An identification of the loans of 21 the borrower that are eligible Federal Di- 22 rect Loans. 23 ‘‘(iii) With respect to each such eligi- 24 ble Federal Direct Loan, the number of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:33 Mar 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6230.IH H6230 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6230 IH monthly payments on such loan that qual- 1 ify as a monthly payment under paragraph 2 (1)(A), and the estimated number of 3 monthly payments under paragraph (1)(A) 4 remaining on such loan before the bor- 5 rower may be eligible for loan cancellation 6 under this subsection. 7 ‘‘(iv) With respect to each loan of the 8 borrower that is not eligible for loan can- 9 cellation under this subsection, an expla- 10 nation of why the loan is not so eligible 11 and instructions on how what, if anything, 12 the borrower may do to make the loan so 13 eligible. 14 ‘‘(v) Instructions for the submission of 15 any forms associated with such loan can- 16 cellation, and an ability for the borrower to 17 use the portal to electronically sign and 18 submit such forms. 19 ‘‘(B) EMPLOYERS.—The Secretary shall 20 ensure that an employer of a borrower has the 21 ability to electronically sign and submit any 22 forms associated with loan cancellation under 23 this subsection. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:33 Mar 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6230.IH H6230 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 6230 IH ‘‘(C) INFORMATION.—The Secretary shall 1 ensure that any information provided through 2 the on-line portal described in this paragraph— 3 ‘‘(i) is up-to-date information; and 4 ‘‘(ii) that such information is also pro- 5 vided in a written-format through email or 6 regular mail, if so requested by the bor- 7 rower or employer. 8 ‘‘(9) STANDARD PROCEDURES.—Not later than 9 180 days after the date of enactment of the PSLF 10 Administrative Improvements Act, the Secretary 11 shall develop and make publicly available the proce- 12 dures the Secretary (including the contractors and 13 servicers involved) uses to determine whether a bor- 14 rower meets the requirements for loan cancellation 15 under this subsection. 16 ‘‘(10) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Secretary shall 17 submit to the authorizing committees, an annual re- 18 port with respect to the preceding fiscal year, on— 19 ‘‘(A) the number of borrowers who received 20 loan cancellation under this subsection, and the 21 number of such borrowers whose application for 22 such loan cancellation had been previously re- 23 jected; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:33 Mar 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6230.IH H6230 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 6230 IH ‘‘(B) the number of borrowers whose appli- 1 cation for loan cancellation under this sub- 2 section was rejected, and a description of why 3 each such application was so rejected, 4 disaggregated by category of public service job 5 listed in question 13 of the employment certifi- 6 cation form required under this subsection (as 7 in effect on the date of enactment of the PSLF 8 Administrative Improvements Act); 9 ‘‘(C) the number of borrowers whose appli- 10 cation for loan cancellation under this sub- 11 section had been rejected and who contacted the 12 Secretary to determine how to qualify for such 13 loan cancellation or for the loan cancellation 14 program under section 315 of title III of divi- 15 sion H of the Consolidation Appropriations Act, 16 2018 (Public Law 115–141; 132 Stat. 752 et 17 seq.); and 18 ‘‘(D) the reasons why a payment made on 19 a loan did not qualify as one of the 120 month- 20 ly payments under paragraph (1)(A).’’. 21 SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION OF TEPSLF. 22 A borrower may qualify for loan cancellation under 23 section 315 of title III of division H of the Consolidation 24 Appropriations Act, 2018 (Public Law 115–141; 132 Stat. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:33 Mar 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6230.IH H6230 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 6230 IH 752 et seq.), regardless of whether the borrower has been 1 rejected for loan cancellation under section 455(m) of the 2 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087e(m)). 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:33 Mar 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6230.IH H6230 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS