I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3412 

To establish the Higher Education Regulatory Reform Task Force, to expand 

the experimental sites initiative under the Higher Education Act of 

1965 to reduce college costs for students, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 30, 2013 

Mr. GOWDY (for himself and Mr. WELCH) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in 

addition to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To establish the Higher Education Regulatory Reform Task 

Force, to expand the experimental sites initiative under 

the Higher Education Act of 1965 to reduce college 

costs for students, 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 ‘‘Flexibility to Innovate 

5 for College Affordability Act’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. HIGHER EDUCATION REGULATORY REFORM TASK 

2 FORCE. 

3 (a) TASK FORCE ESTABLISHED.—Not later than 2 

4 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec5 retary of Education shall establish the Higher Education 

6 Regulatory Reform Task Force. 

7 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The Higher Education Regu8 latory Reform Task Force shall include— 

9 (1) the Secretary of Education or the Sec10 retary’s designee; 

11 (2) the head of each other Federal agency (or 

12 such head’s designee) that the Secretary of Edu13 cation determines to be relevant to the activities of 

14 the Higher Education Regulatory Reform Task 

15 Force; 

16 (3) a representative of the Advisory Committee 

17 on Student Financial Assistance established under 

18 section 491 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

19 (20 U.S.C. 1098); 

20 (4) representatives from the higher education 

21 community, including— 

22 (A) institutions of higher education, with 

23 equal representation of public and private non24 profit institutions, and two-year and four-year 

25 institutions, and with not less than 25 percent 

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1 of such representative institutions carrying out 

2 distance education programs; and 

3 (B) nonprofit organizations representing 

4 institutions of higher education; and 

5 (5) any other entity or individual the Secretary 

6 of Education determines appropriate. 

7 (c) ACTIVITIES.— 

8 (1) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 6 

9 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the 

10 Secretary of Education shall submit to Congress and 

11 make available on a publicly available website a re12 port (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Higher Edu13 cation Regulatory Reform Report’’) prepared by the 

14 Higher Education Regulatory Reform Task Force on 

15 Federal regulatory requirements for institutions of 

16 higher education. In prioritizing the review and con17 sideration of such regulatory requirements for the 

18 purposes of the Higher Education Regulatory Re19 form Report, the Higher Education Regulatory Re20 form Task Force shall give highest priority to regu21 lations that are in effect at the time of such review 

22 and consideration and related to— 

23 (A) State authorization of distance edu24 cation; 

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1 (B) the Integrated Postsecondary Edu2 cation Data System (IPEDS); 

3 (C) the Office of Management and Budg4 et’s A–21 Circular; 

5 (D) reporting under the Jeanne Clery Dis6 closure of Campus Security Policy and Campus 

7 Crime Statistics Act; 

8 (E) calculation of default rates under sec9 tion 435(a) of the Higher Education Act of 

10 1965; 

11 (F) gainful employment; 

12 (G) revenue requirements for institutions 

13 of higher education under section 487(a)(24) 

14 and (d) of the Higher Education Act of 1965; 

15 and 

16 (H) the Single Audit Act of 1984 and the 

17 Office of Management and Budget’s A–133 Cir18 cular. 

19 (2) CONTENTS OF REPORT.—The Higher Edu20 cation Regulatory Reform Report shall contain the 

21 following with respect to regulatory requirements for 

22 institutions of higher education: 

23 (A) A list of rules that are determined to 

24 be outmoded, duplicative, ineffective, or exces25 sively burdensome. 

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1 (B) For each rule listed in accordance with 

2 subparagraph (A) and that is in effect at the 

3 time of the review under subparagraph (A), an 

4 analysis of whether the costs outweigh the bene5 fits for such rule. 

6 (C) Recommendations to consolidate, mod7 ify, simplify, or repeal such rules to make such 

8 rules more effective or less burdensome. 

9 (D) A description of the justification for 

10 and impact of the recommendations described 

11 in subparagraph (C), as appropriate and avail12 able, including supporting data for such jus13 tifications and the financial impact of such rec14 ommendations on institutions of higher edu15 cation of varying sizes and types. 

16 (E) Recommendations on the establish17 ment of a permanent entity to review new regu18 latory requirements affecting institutions of 

19 higher education. 

20 (3) NOTICE AND COMMENT.—At least 30 days 

21 before submission of the Higher Education Regu22 latory Reform Report required under paragraph (1), 

23 the Secretary of Education shall publish the report 

24 in the Federal Register for public notice and com25 ment. The Higher Education Regulatory Reform 

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1 Task Force may modify the report in response to 

2 any comments received before submission of the re3 port to Congress. 

4 (d) DEFINITION OF INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDU5 CATION.—For the purposes of this section, the term ‘‘in6 stitution of higher education’’ has the meaning given such 

7 term in section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

8 (20 U.S.C. 1002), except that such term does not include 

9 institutions described in subsection (a)(1)(C) of such sec10 tion 102. 

11 SEC. 3. EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION BY CONGRESS. 

12 (a) PRESENTATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION REGU13 LATORY REFORM REPORT TO CONGRESS AND EXPEDITED

14 CONSIDERATION.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President shall propose, 

16 at the time and in the manner provided in para17 graph (2), the carrying out of all or part of the rec18 ommendations contained in the Higher Education 

19 Regulatory Reform Report prepared by the Higher 

20 Education Regulatory Reform Task Force in accord21 ance with section 2. 

22 (2) TRANSMITTAL OF SPECIAL MESSAGE.—Not 

23 later than 120 days after the submission of the 

24 Higher Education Regulatory Reform Report to 

25 Congress under section 2(c), the President shall 

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1 transmit to Congress a special message to carry out 

2 all or part of the recommendations contained in such 

3 Report. The President shall include with that special 

4 message a bill that would carry out the rec5 ommendations. The President may not transmit 

6 more than one such special message each year. 

7 (3) EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION OF PRESI8 DENT’S HIGHER EDUCATION REGULATORY REFORM

9 BILL.— 

10 (A) HIGHER EDUCATION REGULATORY RE11 FORM BILL.—Within 14 days after the Presi12 dent submits to Congress a bill under para13 graph (2), the majority leader of the House of 

14 Representatives and the majority leader of the 

15 Senate shall each introduce such bill, by re16 quest. 

17 (B) CONSIDERATION IN THE HOUSE OF

18 REPRESENTATIVES.— 

19 (i) REFERRAL AND REPORTING.—Any 

20 committee of the House of Representatives 

21 to which such bill is referred shall report 

22 it to the House without amendment not 

23 later than the 14th legislative day after the 

24 date of its introduction. If a committee 

25 fails to report the bill within that period or 

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1 the House has adopted a concurrent reso2 lution providing for adjournment sine die 

3 at the end of a Congress, such committee 

4 shall be automatically discharged from fur5 ther consideration of the bill and it shall be 

6 placed on the appropriate calendar. 

7 (ii) PROCEEDING TO CONSIDER8 ATION.—Not later than 21 legislative days 

9 after such bill is reported or a committee 

10 has been discharged from further consider11 ation thereof, it shall be in order to move 

12 to proceed to consider such bill in the 

13 House. Such a motion shall be highly privi14 leged and not debatable, and shall be in 

15 order only at a time designated by the 

16 Speaker in the legislative schedule within 

17 two legislative days after the day on which 

18 the proponent announces an intention to 

19 the House to offer the motion provided 

20 that such notice may not be given until 

21 such bill is reported or a committee has 

22 been discharged from further consideration 

23 thereof. Such a motion shall not be in 

24 order after the House has disposed of a 

25 motion to proceed with respect to that spemstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 cial message. The previous question shall 

2 be considered as ordered on the motion to 

3 its adoption without intervening motion. A 

4 motion to reconsider the vote by which the 

5 motion is disposed of shall not be in order. 

6 (iii) CONSIDERATION.—If the motion 

7 to proceed is agreed to, the House shall 

8 immediately proceed to consider such bill 

9 in the House without intervening motion. 

10 Such bill shall be considered as read. All 

11 points of order against the bill and against 

12 its consideration are waived. The previous 

13 question shall be considered as ordered on 

14 the bill to its passage without intervening 

15 motion except 4 hours of debate equally di16 vided and controlled by the proponent and 

17 an opponent and one motion to limit de18 bate on the bill. A motion to reconsider the 

19 vote on passage of the bill shall not be in 

20 order. 

21 (C) CONSIDERATION IN THE SENATE.— 

22 (i) COMMITTEE ACTION.—The appro23 priate committee of the Senate shall report 

24 without amendment the bill referred to in 

25 subparagraph (A) not later than the sevmstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 enth session day after introduction. If a 

2 committee fails to report the bill within 

3 that period or the Senate has adopted a 

4 concurrent resolution providing for ad5 journment sine die at the end of a Con6 gress, the Committee shall be automati7 cally discharged from further consideration 

8 of the bill and it shall be placed on the ap9 propriate calendar. 

10 (ii) MOTION TO PROCEED.—Not later 

11 than 3 session days after the bill is re12 ported in the Senate or the committee has 

13 been discharged thereof, it shall be in 

14 order for any Senator to move to proceed 

15 to consider the bill in the Senate. The mo16 tion shall be decided without debate and 

17 the motion to reconsider shall be deemed 

18 to have been laid on the table. Such a mo19 tion shall not be in order after the Senate 

20 has disposed of a prior motion to proceed 

21 with respect to the draft bill. 

22 (iii) CONSIDERATION.—If a motion to 

23 proceed to the consideration of the draft 

24 bill is agreed to, the Senate shall imme25 diately proceed to consideration of the 

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1 draft bill without intervening motion, 

2 order, or other business, and the draft bill 

3 shall remain the unfinished business of the 

4 Senate until disposed of. Consideration on 

5 the bill in the Senate under this sub6 section, and all debatable motions and ap7 peals in connection therewith, shall not ex8 ceed 10 hours equally divided in the usual 

9 form. All points of order against the draft 

10 bill or its consideration are waived. Consid11 eration in the Senate on any debatable mo12 tion or appeal in connection with the draft 

13 bill shall be limited to not more than 10 

14 hours. A motion to postpone, or a motion 

15 to proceed to the consideration of other 

16 business, or a motion to recommit the 

17 draft bill is not in order. A motion to re18 consider the vote by which the draft bill is 

19 agreed to or disagreed to is not in order. 

20 (D) AMENDMENTS PROHIBITED.—No 

21 amendment to, or motion to strike a provision 

22 from, the draft bill considered under this sec23 tion shall be in order in either the House of 

24 Representatives or the Senate. 

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1 (E) COORDINATION WITH ACTION BY

2 OTHER HOUSE.—If, before passing the bill, one 

3 House receives from the other a bill— 

4 (i) the bill of the other House shall 

5 not be referred to a committee; and 

6 (ii) the procedure in the receiving 

7 House shall be the same as if no bill had 

8 been received from the other House until 

9 the vote on passage, when the bill received 

10 from the other House shall supplant the 

11 bill of the receiving House. 

12 (F) LIMITATION.—This paragraph shall 

13 apply only to the bill referred to in subpara14 graph (A), introduced pursuant to such sub15 paragraph. 

16 (b) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, con17 tinuity of a session of either House of Congress shall be 

18 considered as broken only by an adjournment of that 

19 House sine die, and the days on which that House is not 

20 in session because of an adjournment of more than 3 days 

21 to a date certain shall be excluded in the computation of 

22 any period. 

23 SEC. 4. EXPANDING THE EXPERIMENTAL SITES INITIATIVE. 

24 Section 487A(b)(3) of the Higher Education Act of 

25 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094a(b)(3)) is amended— 

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1 (1) in subparagraph (B)— 

2 (A) by inserting ‘‘(other than for purposes 

3 of an experiment described in subparagraph 

4 (C))’’ after ‘‘award amounts’’; and 

5 (B) by inserting ‘‘, such as an experiment 

6 described in subparagraph (D)’’ after ‘‘results 

7 of the experiment’’; and 

8 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub9 paragraphs: 

10 ‘‘(C) WAIVERS OF GRANT AND LOAN MAX11 IMUM AWARD AMOUNTS.—The Secretary is au12 thorized to waive any requirements in this title 

13 or regulations prescribed under this title relat14 ing to grant and loan maximum award amounts 

15 (or any other requirements or regulations that 

16 may bias the results of the experiment de17 scribed in this subparagraph) for any institu18 tion participating as an experimental site under 

19 subparagraph (A) to carry out an experiment 

20 to, with respect to each student whose workload 

21 exceeds the minimum workload that the institu22 tion considers a full-time academic workload for 

23 the program of study that the student is pur24 suing, increase the maximum Federal Pell 

25 Grant and loan award amounts for the student 

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1 in proportion to the amount that the student’s 

2 workload exceeds such minimum full-time aca3 demic workload, so long as the institution dem4 onstrates to the Secretary that the experiment 

5 described in this subparagraph will assist in de6 creasing the total the cost of attendance (de7 fined in section 472) for the student. 

8 ‘‘(D) WAIVERS FOR COMPETENCY-BASED

9 LEARNING.—The Secretary is authorized to 

10 waive any requirements in this title or any reg11 ulations prescribed under this title (including 

12 any accreditation requirements or any other re13 quirements or regulations that may bias the re14 sults of the experiment described in this sub15 paragraph) for any institution participating as 

16 an experimental site under subparagraph (A) to 

17 carry out an experiment to provide Federal 

18 grant and loan awards to— 

19 ‘‘(i) students enrolled in remedial 

20 courses or competency-based learning pro21 grams, which are not accredited, but are 

22 approved by the institution and provide 

23 competencies for success in certain pro24 grams of study at the institution; 

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1 ‘‘(ii) students (or potential students) 

2 to pay for the test fees of tests, based on 

3 the results of which the institution may 

4 award the students academic credit for 

5 prior learning; or 

6 ‘‘(iii) secondary school students en7 rolled in courses at the institution, 

8 so long as the institution demonstrates to the 

9 Secretary that the experiment described in this 

10 subparagraph will assist in decreasing the total 

11 the cost of attendance (defined in section 472) 

12 for such students.’’. 

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