Student Records Protection Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8552 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require institutions of higher education to establish record-management plans in order to be accredited or continue to be accredited, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 9, 2020 Mr. CARTWRIGHT (for himself, Mr. SAN NICOLAS, and Ms. BONAMICI) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Edu- cation and Labor A BILL To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require institutions of higher education to establish record-man- agement plans in order to be accredited or continue to be accredited, 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 ‘‘Student Records Pro- 4 tection Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:37 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8552.IH H8552 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8552 IH SEC. 2. RECORD-MANAGEMENT PLANS REQUIRED. 1 (a) ACCREDITING REQUIREMENTS.—Section 496(c) 2 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 3 1099b(c)) is amended— 4 (1) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 5 end; 6 (2) in paragraph (9), by striking the period at 7 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 8 (3) by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(10) beginning on the date that is 5 years 10 after the date of the enactment of this paragraph, 11 requires an institution to submit for approval to the 12 accrediting agency a records management plan upon 13 the institution’s notifying the accrediting agency 14 that the institution intends to cease operations. Such 15 plan shall include— 16 ‘‘(A) a plan for the custody, continued ac- 17 cess, and disposition of student records, includ- 18 ing student transcripts, billing, and financial 19 aid records; 20 ‘‘(B) a plan to provide to the Secretary, 21 State authorizing agency, and such accrediting 22 agency or association a list that includes the 23 name and contact information of each student 24 enrolled in such institution— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:37 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8552.IH H8552 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8552 IH ‘‘(i) on the date such institution 1 closed; 2 ‘‘(ii) on the date that is 120 days be- 3 fore the date described in clause (i); and 4 ‘‘(iii) on the date that is 180 days be- 5 fore the date described in clause (i); 6 ‘‘(C) an assurance from the institution 7 that such institution— 8 ‘‘(i) will release all financial holds 9 placed on student records; 10 ‘‘(ii) for the 1-year period beginning 11 on the date of the closure of such institu- 12 tion, will not require any student or former 13 student who requests the student records 14 of such student to purchase such records 15 or otherwise charge such student a fee 16 with respect to such records; and 17 ‘‘(iii) after the 1-year period described 18 in clause (ii), will either continue to not re- 19 quire the purchase of the records described 20 in such subclause or charge a nominal fee 21 with respect to such records, as determined 22 by the Secretary; and 23 ‘‘(D) an estimate of the costs necessary to 24 carry out the record-management plan and a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:37 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8552.IH H8552 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8552 IH plan for how such institution will provide fund- 1 ing for such costs.’’. 2 (b) PROGRAM PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT.— 3 (1) AMENDMENT.—Section 487(f)(1) of the 4 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 5 1094(f)(1)) is amended by striking the period at the 6 end and inserting ‘‘and to prepare and submit to the 7 Secretary a record-management plan that includes 8 the information required under subparagraphs (A) 9 through (D) of section 496(c)(10).’’ 10 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made 11 by paragraph (1) shall take effect on the date that 12 is 6 months after the date of the enactment of this 13 Act. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:37 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8552.IH H8552 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS