Supporting Con­nec­tiv­ity for Higher Education Students in Need Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3701 To require the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, in consultation with the Secretary of Education, to promul- gate regulations to provide support to institutions of higher education for the provision of certain equipment and services to students of those institutions, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 12, 2020 Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. PETERS, and Ms. ROSEN) in- troduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To require the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Commu- nications and Information, in consultation with the Sec- retary of Education, to promulgate regulations to provide support to institutions of higher education for the provi- sion of certain equipment and services to students of those institutions, 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 ‘‘Supporting Connectiv- 4 ity for Higher Education Students in Need Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 May 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3701.IS S3701 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3701 IS SEC. 2. FUNDS TO SUPPORT. 1 (a) REGULATIONS REQUIRED.— 2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 14 days after 3 the date of enactment of this Act, the Assistant Sec- 4 retary, in consultation with the Secretary of Edu- 5 cation, shall promulgate regulations for the provi- 6 sion, from amounts made available from the Emer- 7 gency Higher Education Connectivity Fund estab- 8 lished under subsection (d)(1), of support to an in- 9 stitution of higher education for the purposes of pro- 10 viding eligible services and eligible equipment to stu- 11 dents of that institution. 12 (2) CONTENT.—The regulations promulgated 13 under paragraph (1) shall— 14 (A) prioritize support for— 15 (i) an institution of higher education 16 that is eligible to receive a grant under 17 part A or B of title III or title V of the 18 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 19 1057 et seq., 1060 et seq., 1101 et seq.), 20 including— 21 (I) a historically Black college or 22 university; 23 (II) a Hispanic-serving institu- 24 tion; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 May 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3701.IS S3701 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3701 IS (III) a Tribal College or Univer- 1 sity; and 2 (IV) a minority-serving institu- 3 tion; and 4 (ii) a rural-serving institution; 5 (B) provide a mechanism to require an in- 6 stitution of higher education to prioritize the 7 provision of an eligible service or eligible equip- 8 ment to a student who— 9 (i) is eligible to receive a Federal Pell 10 Grant; 11 (ii) is a recipient of any other need- 12 based financial aid from the Federal Gov- 13 ernment, a State, or that institution of 14 higher education; 15 (iii) is eligible for a Lifeline qualifying 16 assistance program; 17 (iv) is a low-income individual, as that 18 term is defined in section 312(g) of the 19 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 20 1058(g)); 21 (v) is a first generation college stu- 22 dent, as that term is defined in section 23 646.7 of title 34, Code of Federal Regula- 24 tions (or any successor regulation); 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 May 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3701.IS S3701 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3701 IS (vi) has been approved to receive Fed- 1 eral or State unemployment insurance ben- 2 efits since March 1, 2020; or 3 (vii) the institution of higher edu- 4 cation believes lacks necessary connectivity 5 for participating in distance learning or 6 academic and student support services; 7 (C) establish a schedule of reasonable per- 8 student funding amounts for eligible services 9 and eligible equipment supported under those 10 regulations; 11 (D) provide that— 12 (i) an institution of higher education 13 that purchases eligible equipment using 14 support received under those regulations 15 may, after the termination of those regula- 16 tions under subsection (b), use that eligible 17 equipment for purposes that the institution 18 considers appropriate, subject to any re- 19 strictions provided in those regulations (or 20 any successor regulations that are promul- 21 gated on or before the termination date de- 22 scribed in paragraph (1) of that sub- 23 section); 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 May 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3701.IS S3701 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 3701 IS (ii) no person that receives support 1 under those regulations may sell or other- 2 wise transfer eligible support or eligible 3 equipment in exchange for anything (in- 4 cluding a service) of value, except that 5 such person may exchange that eligible 6 equipment for upgraded equipment of the 7 same type; and 8 (iii) an institution of higher education 9 may use support received under those reg- 10 ulations to provide eligible services and eli- 11 gible equipment in conjunction with other 12 Federal funding if the total amount of 13 Federal funding received by the institution 14 is not greater than the cost of so providing 15 the eligible services and eligible equipment; 16 and 17 (E) establish reasonable requirements— 18 (i) for an institution of higher edu- 19 cation to apply for support under those 20 regulations; 21 (ii) for an institution of higher edu- 22 cation to procure eligible services and eligi- 23 ble equipment with support obtained under 24 those regulations; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 May 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3701.IS S3701 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 3701 IS (iii) with respect to reporting, record- 1 keeping, retention of documents, compli- 2 ance, and audits for an institution of high- 3 er education that receives support under 4 those regulations; 5 (iv) for payment and distribution of 6 support to institutions of higher education 7 under those regulations; and 8 (v) with respect to any other processes 9 that the Assistant Secretary, in consulta- 10 tion with the Secretary of Education, de- 11 termines to be appropriate. 12 (b) TERMINATION OF REGULATIONS.— 13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 14 the regulations promulgated under subsection (a) 15 shall terminate on the date that is 60 days after the 16 date on which the public health emergency declared 17 by the Secretary of Health and Human Services 18 under section 319 of the Public Health Service Act 19 (42 U.S.C. 247d) with respect to COVID–19, or any 20 renewal of that declaration, terminates. 21 (2) CONTINUITY OF FUNDING.—If, during the 22 period in which the regulations promulgated under 23 subsection (a) are in effect, the Assistant Secretary 24 makes a commitment to provide support to an insti- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 May 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3701.IS S3701 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 3701 IS tution of higher education under those regulations, 1 the Assistant Secretary may make a payment with 2 respect to that commitment on any date that is on 3 or before September 30, 2021. 4 (c) EXEMPTIONS.— 5 (1) NOTICE AND COMMENT RULEMAKING RE- 6 QUIREMENTS.—Subsections (b), (c), and (d) of sec- 7 tion 553 of title 5, United States Code, shall not 8 apply with respect to a regulation promulgated 9 under subsection (a) of this section or a rulemaking 10 to promulgate such a regulation. 11 (2) PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT REQUIRE- 12 MENTS.—A collection of information conducted or 13 sponsored under the regulations promulgated under 14 subsection (a) shall not constitute a collection of in- 15 formation for the purposes of subchapter I of chap- 16 ter 35 of title 44, United States Code (commonly re- 17 ferred to as the ‘‘Paperwork Reduction Act’’). 18 (d) EMERGENCY HIGHER EDUCATION 19 CONNECTIVITY FUND.— 20 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in 21 the Treasury of the United States a fund to be 22 known as the ‘‘Emergency Higher Education Con- 23 nectivity Fund’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 May 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3701.IS S3701 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 3701 IS (2) APPROPRIATION.—There is appropriated to 1 the Emergency Higher Education Connectivity 2 Fund, out of any money in the Treasury not other- 3 wise appropriated, $1,000,000,000 for fiscal year 4 2020, to remain available through fiscal year 2021. 5 (3) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts in the Emer- 6 gency Higher Education Connectivity Fund shall be 7 available to the Assistant Secretary to provide sup- 8 port under the regulations promulgated under sub- 9 section (a). 10 (e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 11 tion, any regulation promulgated under this section, or 12 any policy established by an institution of higher education 13 to implement this section or a regulation promulgated 14 under this section may be construed to preclude any stu- 15 dent from receiving support provided under this section 16 or a regulation promulgated under this section. 17 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 18 (1) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist- 19 ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of 20 Commerce for Communications and Information. 21 (2) BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE.— 22 The term ‘‘broadband internet access service’’ has 23 the meaning given the term in section 8.1(b) of title 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 May 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3701.IS S3701 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 3701 IS 47, Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor 1 regulation). 2 (3) ELIGIBLE EQUIPMENT.—The term ‘‘eligible 3 equipment’’ means any of the following: 4 (A) A laptop computer, tablet computer, or 5 similar device capable of connecting to broad- 6 band internet access service. 7 (B) A modem. 8 (C) A router. 9 (D) A device that combines a modem and 10 a router. 11 (E) A Wi-Fi hotspot. 12 (4) ELIGIBLE SERVICE.—The term ‘‘eligible 13 service’’ means— 14 (A) broadband internet access service; and 15 (B) video-conferencing systems and serv- 16 ices used for distance learning. 17 (5) FEDERAL PELL GRANT.—The term ‘‘Fed- 18 eral Pell Grant’’ means a grant under section 401 19 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 20 1070a). 21 (6) HISPANIC-SERVING INSTITUTION.—The 22 term ‘‘Hispanic-serving institution’’ has the meaning 23 given the term in section 502 of the Higher Edu- 24 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1101a). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 May 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3701.IS S3701 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 3701 IS (7) HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGE OR UNI- 1 VERSITY.—The term ‘‘historically Black college or 2 university’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘part B 3 institution’’ in section 322 of the Higher Education 4 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061). 5 (8) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 6 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ means— 7 (A) an institution of higher education, as 8 that term is defined in section 101 of the High- 9 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001); or 10 (B) a postsecondary vocational institution, 11 as that term is defined in section 102(c) of the 12 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 13 1002(c)). 14 (9) LIFELINE QUALIFYING ASSISTANCE PRO- 15 GRAM.—The term ‘‘Lifeline qualifying assistance 16 program’’ means a program described in section 17 54.400(j) of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations 18 (or any successor regulation). 19 (10) MINORITY-SERVING INSTITUTION.—The 20 term ‘‘minority-serving institution’’ means any of 21 the following: 22 (A) An Alaska Native-serving institution 23 (as that term is defined in section 317(b) of the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 May 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3701.IS S3701 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 3701 IS Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1 1059d(b))). 2 (B) A Native Hawaiian-serving institution 3 (as that term is defined in section 317(b) of the 4 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 5 1059d(b))). 6 (C) A Predominantly Black institution (as 7 that term is defined in section 371(c) of the 8 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 9 1067q(c))). 10 (D) An Asian American and Native Amer- 11 ican Pacific Islander-serving institution (as that 12 term is defined in section 320(b) of the Higher 13 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1059g(b))). 14 (E) A Native American-serving, nontribal 15 institution (as that term is defined in section 16 319(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 17 (20 U.S.C. 1059f(b))). 18 (F) A consortium of any of the following: 19 (i) A historically Black college or uni- 20 versity. 21 (ii) A Hispanic-serving institution. 22 (iii) A Tribal College or University. 23 (iv) An institution described in any of 24 subparagraphs (A) through (E). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 May 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3701.IS S3701 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 3701 IS (11) RURAL-SERVING INSTITUTION.—The term 1 ‘‘rural-serving institution’’ has the meaning given 2 the term ‘‘rural-serving institution of higher edu- 3 cation’’ in section 861(b) of the Higher Education 4 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1161q(b)). 5 (12) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean- 6 ing given the term in section 103 of the Higher 7 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1003). 8 (13) STUDENT.—The term ‘‘student’’, when 9 used with respect to an institution of higher edu- 10 cation, means an individual who, during the period 11 in which the individual receives support under the 12 regulations promulgated under subsection (a), is— 13 (A) registered as a student with the insti- 14 tution; 15 (B) enrolled in not less than 1 class of the 16 institution; or 17 (C) otherwise considered a student by the 18 institution. 19 (14) TRIBAL COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY.—The 20 term ‘‘Tribal College or University’’ has the meaning 21 given the term in section 316 of the Higher Edu- 22 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1059c). 23 (15) WI-FI.—The term ‘‘Wi-Fi’’ means a wire- 24 less networking protocol based on Institute of Elec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 May 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3701.IS S3701 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •S 3701 IS trical and Electronics Engineers standard 802.11 1 (or any successor standard). 2 (16) WI-FI HOTSPOT.—The term ‘‘Wi-Fi 3 hotspot’’ means a device that is capable of— 4 (A) receiving broadband internet a [Text truncated for display. 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