108TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1412

AN ACT

To provide the Secretary of Education with specific

waiver authority to respond to a war or othermilitary operation or national emergency.

108TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1412

AN ACT

To provide the Secretary of Education with specific waiver

authority to respond to a war or other military operation

or national emergency.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS; REFERENCE.

2 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

3 ‘‘Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act

4 of 2003’’.

5 (b) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:

6 (1) There is no more important cause than that

7 of our nation’s defense.

8 (2) The United States will protect the freedom

9 and secure the safety of its citizens.

10 (3) The United States military is the finest in

11 the world and its personnel are determined to lead

12 the world in pursuit of peace.

13 (4) Hundreds of thousands of Army, Air Force,

14 Marine Corps, Navy, and Coast Guard reservists

15 and members of the National Guard have been

16 called to active duty or active service.

17 (5) The men and women of the United States

18 military put their lives on hold, leave their families,

19 jobs, and postsecondary education in order to serve

20 their country and do so with distinction.

21 (6) There is no more important cause for this

22 Congress than to support the members of the United

23 States military and provide assistance with their

24 transition into and out of active duty and active

25 service.
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1 (c) REFERENCE.—References in this Act to ‘‘the

2 Act’’ are references to the Higher Education Act of 1965

3 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.).

4 SEC. 2. WAIVER AUTHORITY FOR RESPONSE TO MILITARY

5 CONTINGENCIES AND NATIONAL EMER6 GENCIES.

7 (a) WAIVERS AND MODIFICATIONS.—

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other

9 provision of law, unless enacted with specific ref10 erence to this section, the Secretary of Education

11 (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) may

12 waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provi13 sion applicable to the student financial assistance

14 programs under title IV of the Act as the Secretary

15 deems necessary in connection with a war or other

16 military operation or national emergency to provide

17 the waivers or modifications authorized by para18 graph (2).

19 (2) ACTIONS AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary is

20 authorized to waive or modify any provision de21 scribed in paragraph (1) as may be necessary to en22 sure that—

23 (A) recipients of student financial assist24 ance under title IV of the Act who are affected

25 individuals are not placed in a worse position fi-
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1 nancially in relation to that financial assistance

2 because of their status as affected individuals;

3 (B) administrative requirements placed on

4 affected individuals who are recipients of stu5 dent financial assistance are minimized, to the

6 extent possible without impairing the integrity

7 of the student financial assistance programs, to

8 ease the burden on such students and avoid in9 advertent, technical violations or defaults;

10 (C) the calculation of ‘‘annual adjusted

11 family income’’ and ‘‘available income’’, as used

12 in the determination of need for student finan13 cial assistance under title IV of the Act for any

14 such affected individual (and the determination

15 of such need for his or her spouse and depend16 ents, if applicable), may be modified to mean

17 the sums received in the first calendar year of

18 the award year for which such determination is

19 made, in order to reflect more accurately the fi20 nancial condition of such affected individual

21 and his or her family;

22 (D) the calculation under section

23 484B(b)(2) of the Act (20 U.S.C. 1091b(b)(2))

24 of the amount a student is required to return

25 in the case of an affected individual may be
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1 modified so that no overpayment will be re2 quired to be returned or repaid if the institution

3 has documented (i) the student’s status as an

4 affected individual in the student’s file, and (ii)

5 the amount of any overpayment discharged; and

6 (E) institutions of higher education, eligi7 ble lenders, guaranty agencies, and other enti8 ties participating in the student assistance pro9 grams under title IV of the Act that are located

10 in areas that are declared disaster areas by any

11 Federal, State or local official in connection

12 with a national emergency, or whose operations

13 are significantly affected by such a disaster,

14 may be granted temporary relief from require15 ments that are rendered infeasible or unreason16 able by a national emergency, including due

17 diligence requirements and reporting deadlines.

18 (b) NOTICE OF WAIVERS OR MODIFICATIONS.—

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 437

20 of the General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C.

21 1232) and section 553 of title 5, United States

22 Code, the Secretary shall, by notice in the Federal

23 Register, publish the waivers or modifications of

24 statutory and regulatory provisions the Secretary
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1 deems necessary to achieve the purposes of this sec2 tion.

3 (2) TERMS AND CONDITIONS.—The notice

4 under paragraph (1) shall include the terms and

5 conditions to be applied in lieu of such statutory and

6 regulatory provisions.

7 (3) CASE-BY-CASE BASIS.—The Secretary is not

8 required to exercise the waiver or modification au9 thority under this section on a case-by-case basis.

10 (c) IMPACT REPORT.—The Secretary shall, not later

11 than 15 months after first exercising any authority to

12 issue a waiver or modification under subsection (a), report

13 to the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the

14 House of Representatives and the Committee on Health,

15 Education, Labor and Pensions of the Senate on the im16 pact of any waivers or modifications issued pursuant to

17 subsection (a) on affected individuals and the programs

18 under title IV of the Act, and the basis for such deter19 mination, and include in such report the Secretary’s rec20 ommendations for changes to the statutory or regulatory

21 provisions that were the subject of such waiver or modi22 fication.

23 (d) NO DELAY IN WAIVERS AND MODIFICATIONS.—

24 Sections 482(c) and 492 of the Higher Education Act of

25 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1089(c), 1098a) shall not apply to the
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1 waivers and modifications authorized or required by this

2 Act.

3 SEC. 3. TUITION REFUNDS OR CREDITS FOR MEMBERS OF

4 ARMED FORCES.

5 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con6 gress that—

7 (1) all institutions offering postsecondary edu8 cation should provide a full refund to students who

9 are affected individuals for that portion of a period

10 of instruction such student was unable to complete,

11 or for which such individual did not receive academic

12 credit, because he or she was called up for active

13 duty or active service; and

14 (2) if affected individuals withdraw from a

15 course of study as a result of such active duty or ac16 tive service, such institutions should make every ef17 fort to minimize deferral of enrollment or reapplica18 tion requirements and should provide the greatest

19 flexibility possible with administrative deadlines re20 lated to those applications.

21 (b) DEFINITION OF FULL REFUND.—For purposes

22 of this section, a full refund includes a refund of required

23 tuition and fees, or a credit in a comparable amount

24 against future tuition and fees.
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1 SEC. 4. USE OF PROFESSIONAL JUDGMENT.

2 A financial aid administrator shall be considered to

3 be making a necessary adjustment in accordance with sec4 tion 479A(a) of the Act if the administrator makes adjust5 ments with respect to the calculation of the expected stu6 dent or parent contribution (or both) of an affected indi7 vidual, and adequately documents the need for the adjust8 ment.

9 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

10 In this Act:

11 (1) ACTIVE DUTY.—The term ‘‘active duty’’ has

12 the meaning given such term in section 101(d)(1) of

13 title 10, United States Code, except that such term

14 does not include active duty for training or attend15 ance at a service school.

16 (2) AFFECTED INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘af17 fected individual’’ means an individual who—

18 (A) is serving on active duty during a war

19 or other military operation or national emer20 gency;

21 (B) is performing qualifying National

22 Guard duty during a war or other military op23 eration or national emergency;

24 (C) resides or is employed in an area that

25 is declared a disaster area by any Federal,
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1 State, or local official in connection with a na2 tional emergency; or

3 (D) suffered direct economic hardship as a

4 direct result of a war or other military oper5 ation or national emergency, as determined by

6 the Secretary.

7 (3) MILITARY OPERATION.—The term ‘‘military

8 operation’’ means a contingency operation as such

9 term is defined in section 101(a)(13) of title 10,

10 United States Code.

11 (4) NATIONAL EMERGENCY.—The term ‘‘na12 tional emergency’’ means a national emergency de13 clared by the President of the United States.

14 (5) SERVING ON ACTIVE DUTY.—The term

15 ‘‘serving on active duty during a war or other mili16 tary operation or national emergency’’ shall include

17 service by an individual who is—

18 (A) a Reserve of an Armed Force ordered

19 to active duty under section 12301(a),

20 12301(g), 12302, 12304, or 12306 of title 10,

21 United States Code, or any retired member of

22 an Armed Force ordered to active duty under

23 section 688 of such title, for service in connec24 tion with a war or other military operation or

25 national emergency, regardless of the location
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1 at which such active duty service is performed;

2 and

3 (B) any other member of an Armed Force

4 on active duty in connection with such war, op5 eration, or emergency or subsequent actions or

6 conditions who has been assigned to a duty sta7 tion at a location other than the location at

8 which such member is normally assigned.

9 (6) QUALIFYING NATIONAL GUARD DUTY.—The

10 term ‘‘qualifying National Guard duty during a war

11 or other military operation or national emergency’’

12 means service as a member of the National Guard

13 on full-time National Guard duty (as defined in sec14 tion 101(d)(5) of title 10, United States Code)

15 under a call to active service authorized by the

16 President or the Secretary of Defense for a period

17 of more than 30 consecutive days under section

18 502(f) of title 32, United States Code, in connection

19 with a war, another military operation, or a national

20 emergency declared by the President and supported

21 by Federal funds.
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1 SEC. 6. TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY.

2 The provisions of this Act shall cease to be effective

3 at the close of September 30, 2005.

Passed the House of Representatives April 1, 2003.

Attest:

Clerk.