II 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2342 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to create an innovation zone 

initiative, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 25, 2018 

Mr. YOUNG introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to create 

an innovation zone initiative, 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 ‘‘Innovation Zone Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. INNOVATION ZONE INITIATIVE AUTHORITY. 

6 Section 487A of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

7 (20 U.S.C. 1094a) is amended to read as follows: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 487A. INNOVATION ZONE INITIATIVE. 

9 ‘‘(a) INNOVATION ZONE INITIATIVE.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized 

2 to establish an innovation zone initiative consisting 

3 of voluntary experiments under which the Secretary 

4 and institutions of higher education are permitted to 

5 test the effectiveness of statutory and regulatory 

6 flexibility that aims to achieve the following out7 comes: 

8 ‘‘(A) Increase in student success, which 

9 may be defined as one or more of the following: 

10 ‘‘(i) Reduction in student loan debt. 

11 ‘‘(ii) Increase in student retention and 

12 program completion at institutions of high13 er education. 

14 ‘‘(iii) Increase in student job place15 ment rate upon graduation. 

16 ‘‘(iv) Improved financial aid disburse17 ment and service to students. 

18 ‘‘(v) Increase in student safety, 

19 wellness, or food and housing security. 

20 ‘‘(vi) Other innovative practices that 

21 benefit students. 

22 ‘‘(B) Reduction of regulatory burden on in23 stitutions of higher education or the Depart24 ment, without harm to students. 


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1 ‘‘(2) WAIVERS.—The Secretary is authorized to 

2 waive, for any institution of higher education partici3 pating in an innovation zone experiment under para4 graph (1), one or more requirements of title I or IV. 

5 ‘‘(b) SOLICITATION OF EXPERIMENT SUGGES6 TIONS.— 

7 ‘‘(1) SOLICITATION OF SUGGESTIONS.—Not less 

8 frequently than every 2 years, the Secretary shall 

9 provide an opportunity for the public, institutions of 

10 higher education, and other stakeholders to submit 

11 suggestions for potential experiments under this sec12 tion. 

13 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF SUGGESTIONS.—Any person 

14 that wishes to submit a suggestion under paragraph 

15 (1) shall include— 

16 ‘‘(A) the goals or objectives of the pro17 posed experiment; 

18 ‘‘(B) a description of how the experiment 

19 would be conducted, including participation pro20 tections; 

21 ‘‘(C) the specific statutory or regulatory 

22 requirements for which a waiver would be re23 quested; and 


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1 ‘‘(D) an examination of the current need 

2 or interest, as of the date of the submission, for 

3 the experiment. 

4 ‘‘(c) SELECTION OF EXPERIMENTS AND DESIGNA5 TION OF PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS.— 

6 ‘‘(1) SELECTION CONSIDERATIONS.—After con7 sidering any suggestions submitted under subsection 

8 (b), the Secretary may select experiments to be car9 ried out under subsection (a). The Secretary shall 

10 base any such selection on the following: 

11 ‘‘(A) Sufficient interest in the experiment 

12 among institutions of higher education, re13 searchers, and practitioners. 

14 ‘‘(B) Promising evidence of fulfilling out15 comes described in subsection (a)(1). 

16 ‘‘(C) Other general interest, as supported 

17 by evidence. 

18 ‘‘(2) DETERMINATION OF EVALUATION

19 PLANS.—After selecting an experiment under this 

20 section, but before any participating institutions for 

21 such experiment are chosen, the Secretary shall com22 plete the following: 

23 ‘‘(A) Identify answerable questions for the 

24 experiment and design an experiment that can 

25 measure those answers. 


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1 ‘‘(B) Identify the methodology of data col2 lection for the experiment. 

3 ‘‘(C) Identify rigorous evaluation methods 

4 for the experiment, in partnership with the In5 stitute of Education Sciences, that are informed 

6 by— 

7 ‘‘(i) external researchers; 

8 ‘‘(ii) responses to requests from the 

9 Department for information; and 

10 ‘‘(iii) other opportunities for stake11 holder feedback. 

12 ‘‘(D) Establish a timeframe for conducting 

13 the experiment that shall not exceed 10 years. 

14 ‘‘(E) Estimate the cost of conducting the 

15 experiment. 

16 ‘‘(F) Estimate the necessary size of the 

17 treatment group needed to have statistically sig18 nificant grants. 

19 ‘‘(3) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.—The 

20 Secretary shall notify institutions of higher edu21 cation, through the website of the Department or 

22 other means, of the experiments selected by the Sec23 retary under this section and the steps necessary to 

24 participate in an experiment. Such notice shall in25 clude the information described in subparagraphs 


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1 (A) through (F) of paragraph (2) for the experi2 ment. 

3 ‘‘(4) COMMENCEMENT OF EXPERIMENT.—The 

4 Secretary may carry out an experiment, in accord5 ance with the requirements of this section, only if 

6 the Secretary has entered into agreements with not 

7 less than 5, and not more than 100, institutions of 

8 higher education, under which the institutions 

9 agree— 

10 ‘‘(A) to participate in the experiment de11 scribed in the applicable evaluation plan under 

12 paragraph (2); 

13 ‘‘(B) to comply with the data collection re14 quirements under subsection (d)(1) and any 

15 other reporting requirements determined by the 

16 Secretary; and 

17 ‘‘(C)(i) to the methodology for data collec18 tion established by the Secretary under para19 graph (2)(B) for the experiment; or 

20 ‘‘(ii) upon the request of the institution 

21 and if the Secretary determines appropriate, to 

22 an alternative methodology for data collection. 

23 ‘‘(5) FAST-TRACK PROCESS TO COMPLY WITH

24 INFORMATION COLLECTION REQUIREMENTS.—Not25 withstanding section 3507 of title 44, United States 


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1 Code, the Secretary shall be deemed to have the au2 thority to approve, for purposes of such section 

3 3507, any proposed collection of information related 

4 to an experiment conducted under this section, in 

5 the same manner and to the same extent as such au6 thority is provided to a senior official by the Direc7 tor of the Office of Management and Budget under 

8 section 3507(i) of such title. 

9 ‘‘(d) OUTCOMES REPORTING.— 

10 ‘‘(1) DATA SUBMISSION.—Each institution of 

11 higher education participating in an experiment 

12 under this section shall timely submit to the Sec13 retary, on a periodic basis to be determined by the 

14 Secretary, data on outcomes relating to the experi15 ment. 

16 ‘‘(2) REPORT.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall— 

18 ‘‘(i) review and evaluate the experi19 ence of all institutions participating in 

20 each experiment carried out under this sec21 tion; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) beginning 2 years after the date 

23 of enactment of the Innovation Zone Act, 

24 and every 2 years thereafter— 


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1 ‘‘(I) prepare and submit a report 

2 regarding the innovation zone initia3 tive under this section to the author4 izing committees; and 

5 ‘‘(II) post the report on the pub6 lic website of the Department. 

7 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS OF REPORT.—The report 

8 required under subparagraph (A)(ii)(I) shall in9 clude, for each experiment supported as of the 

10 date of the report— 

11 ‘‘(i) a summary of the status of the 

12 experiment; 

13 ‘‘(ii) a summary and analysis of the 

14 findings, to date, of the experiment; 

15 ‘‘(iii) the methodology of data collec16 tion; 

17 ‘‘(iv) an analysis of the value of con18 tinuation of the experiment; 

19 ‘‘(v) an explanation of any current or 

20 foreseen barriers to conducting the experi21 ment; and 

22 ‘‘(vi) an evaluation of the quality of 

23 data and intended results. 

24 ‘‘(C) COMPLETED EXPERIMENT REPORT.— 

25 By not later than 30 days after the completion 


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1 of the timeframe established under subsection 

2 (c)(2)(D) or (e)(2)(B)(ii) for an experiment, the 

3 Secretary shall— 

4 ‘‘(i) prepare a report that includes— 

5 ‘‘(I) the findings of the experi6 ment; and 

7 ‘‘(II) in the case of an experi8 ment for which the Secretary deter9 mines there is sufficient value in con10 tinuing the experiment past the estab11 lished timeframe, adequate docu12 mentation to justify such continu13 ation; and 

14 ‘‘(ii) publish the report on the public 

15 website of the Department and submit the 

16 report to the authorizing committees. 

17 ‘‘(e) TRANSITION; REVIEW.— 

18 ‘‘(1) CONTINUATION OF EXISTING EXPERI19 MENTS.—The Secretary may continue any experi20 ment commenced under this section before the date 

21 of enactment of the Innovation Zone Act (referred to 

22 in this subsection as an ‘existing experiment’). Any 

23 such existing experiment shall be subject to the re24 quirements of this section, as amended by the InnoVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Jan 26, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2342.IS S2342

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1 vation Zone Act, except for the requirements of sub2 section (c). 

3 ‘‘(2) REVIEW OF EXISTING EXPERIMENTS.—By 

4 not later than 90 days after the date of enactment 

5 of the Innovation Zone Act, the Secretary shall— 

6 ‘‘(A) conduct an extensive review and as7 sessment of existing experiments still in effect; 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(B) prepare and submit to the author10 izing committees, and publish on the public 

11 website of the Department, a report of the sta12 tus of the existing experiments, which shall in13 clude, for each such experiment— 

14 ‘‘(i) the total cost to date and the pro15 jected cost of continuation; 

16 ‘‘(ii) an established timeframe for 

17 completion; 

18 ‘‘(iii) the current methodology of data 

19 collection; 

20 ‘‘(iv) an analysis of findings, as of the 

21 date of the report; 

22 ‘‘(v) an analysis of the value in con23 tinuation of the existing experiment; and 

24 ‘‘(vi) an analysis of whether the as25 sessment of the experiment could be reVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Jan 26, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2342.IS S2342

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1 structured to answer other policy ques2 tions.’’. 

Æ 


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