I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 970 

To prohibit the Secretary of Education from engaging in regulatory overreach 

with regard to institutional eligibility under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 13, 2015 

Ms. FOXX (for herself, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. KLINE, and Mr. SALMON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To prohibit the Secretary of Education from engaging in 

regulatory overreach with regard to institutional eligibility under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 

1965, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Supporting Academic 

5 Freedom through Regulatory Relief Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. REGULATORY RELIEF. 

7 (a) REGULATIONS REPEALED.— 


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1 (1) REPEAL.—The following regulations (in2 cluding any supplement or revision to such regula3 tions) are repealed and shall have no legal effect: 

4 (A) STATE AUTHORIZATION.—Sections 

5 600.4(a)(3), 600.5(a)(4), 600.6(a)(3), 600.9, 

6 and 668.43(b) of title 34, Code of Federal Reg7 ulations (relating to State authorization), as 

8 added or amended by— 

9 (i) the final regulations published by 

10 the Department of Education in the Fed11 eral Register on October 29, 2010 (75 

12 Fed. Reg. 66832 et seq.); or 

13 (ii) the negotiated rulemaking com14 mittee established after the notice of inten15 tion to establish such committee published 

16 in the Federal Register on November 20, 

17 2013 (78 Fed. Reg. 69612 et seq.). 

18 (B) DEFINITION OF CREDIT HOUR.—The 

19 definition of the term ‘‘credit hour’’ in section 

20 600.2 of title 34, Code of Federal Regulations, 

21 as added by the final regulations published by 

22 the Department of Education in the Federal 

23 Register on October 29, 2010 (75 Fed. Reg. 

24 66946), and clauses (i)(A), (ii), and (iii) of sub25 section (k)(2) of section 668.8 of such title, as 


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1 amended by such final regulations (75 Fed. 

2 Reg. 66949 et seq.). 

3 (C) GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT.—Sections 

4 600.10(c), 600.20(d), 668.6, and 668.7, of title 

5 34, Code of Federal Regulations as added or 

6 amended by the final regulations published by 

7 the Department of Education in the Federal 

8 Register on October 31, 2014 (79 Fed. Reg. 

9 64889 et seq.). 

10 (2) EFFECT OF REPEAL.—To the extent that 

11 regulations repealed by paragraph (1) amended reg12 ulations that were in effect on June 30, 2011, the 

13 provisions of the regulations that were in effect on 

14 June 30, 2011, and were so amended are restored 

15 and revived as if the regulations repealed by para16 graph (1) had not taken effect. 

17 (b) CERTAIN REGULATIONS AND OTHER ACTIONS

18 PROHIBITED.— 

19 (1) STATE AUTHORIZATION, GAINFUL EMPLOY20 MENT, AND TEACHER PREPARATION.— 

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Edu22 cation shall not, during the period described in 

23 subparagraph (B), promulgate or enforce any 

24 regulation or rule not in effect on the date of 

25 enactment of this Act for any purpose under 


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1 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

2 1001 et seq.) with respect to— 

3 (i) the State authorization for institu4 tions of higher education to operate within 

5 a State; 

6 (ii) the definition or application of the 

7 term ‘‘gainful employment’’; or 

8 (iii) a teacher preparation program 

9 accountability system. 

10 (B) PERIOD OF PROHIBITION.—The period 

11 during which the Secretary is prohibited from 

12 promulgating or enforcing a regulation de13 scribed in subparagraph (A) shall be the period 

14 beginning on the date of enactment of this Act 

15 and ending on the date of enactment of a law 

16 that extends by not less than 2 fiscal years the 

17 authorization or duration of one or more pro18 grams under the Higher Education Act of 1965 

19 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.). 

20 (2) CREDIT HOUR.—The Secretary of Edu21 cation shall not, on or after the date of enactment 

22 of this Act, promulgate or enforce any regulation or 

23 rule with respect to the definition of the term ‘‘cred24 it hour’’ for any purpose under the Higher Edu25 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.). 


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1 (3) POSTSECONDARY INSTITUTION RATINGS

2 SYSTEM.—The Secretary of Education shall not 

3 carry out, develop, refine, promulgate, publish, im4 plement, administer, or enforce a postsecondary in5 stitution ratings system or any other performance 

6 system to rate institutions of higher education (as 

7 defined in section 102 of the Higher Education Act 

8 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002)). 

9 SEC. 3. THIRD-PARTY SERVICE PROVIDERS. 

10 Section 487(a)(20) of the Higher Education Act of 

11 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(20)) is amended by adding at 

12 the end the following: ‘‘Notwithstanding the preceding 

13 sentence, an institution described in section 101 may pro14 vide payment, based on the amount of tuition generated 

15 by the institution from student enrollment, to a third16 party entity that provides a set of services to the institu17 tion that includes student recruitment services, regardless 

18 of whether the third-party entity is affiliated with an insti19 tution that provides educational services other than the 

20 institution providing such payment, if— 

21 ‘‘(A) the third-party entity is not affiliated 

22 with the institution providing such payment; 

23 ‘‘(B) the third-party entity does not make 

24 compensation payments to its employees that 

25 are prohibited under this paragraph; 


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1 ‘‘(C) the set of services provided to the in2 stitution by the third-party entity include serv3 ices in addition to student recruitment services, 

4 and the institution does not pay the third-party 

5 entity solely or separately for student recruit6 ment services provided by the third-party enti7 ty; and 

8 ‘‘(D) any student recruitment information 

9 available to the third-party entity, including 

10 personally identifiable information, will not be 

11 used by, shared with, or sold to any other per12 son or entity, including any institution that is 

13 affiliated with the third-party entity.’’. 

Æ 


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