I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2089 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to lower the cost of college 

education by establishing pilot programs to expand student access to 

digital course materials. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 29, 2015 

Ms. DELBENE (for herself and Mr. HANNA) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to lower the 

cost of college education by establishing pilot programs 

to expand student access to digital course materials. 

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 ‘‘Electronic Books 

5 Opening Opportunity for Knowledge Act of 2015’’ or the 

6 ‘‘E–BOOK Act of 2015’’. 

7 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

8 The purpose of this Act is to identify savings in the 

9 cost of higher education for undergraduate students by 


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1 funding pilot programs to expand student access to digital 

2 academic course materials. 

3 SEC. 3. GRANTS TO EXPAND ACCESS TO DIGITAL COURSE 

4 MATERIALS. 

5 Title VIII of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 

6 U.S.C. 1161a et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

7 the following new part: 

8 ‘‘PART BB—GRANTS FOR THE EXPANSION OF 

9 ACCESS TO DIGITAL COURSE MATERIALS 

10 ‘‘SEC. 899. GRANTS FOR ACCESS TO DIGITAL COURSE MATE11 RIALS. 

12 ‘‘(a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—From amounts made avail14 able by the Secretary pursuant to subsection (g), the 

15 Secretary may award grants on a competitive basis 

16 to not more than 10 institutions of higher education 

17 to reduce the cost of attendance for undergraduate 

18 students by providing such students with expanded 

19 access to digital course materials. 

20 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT OF FUNDS TO BE AWARDED.— 

21 The Secretary shall determine the amount of funds 

22 to be awarded for each grant based on the number 

23 of students to be served under the grant, except that 

24 no grant under this section shall be in an amount 

25 that is more than $2,000,000. 


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1 ‘‘(b) APPLICATION.—An institution desiring to obtain 

2 a grant under this section shall submit an application to 

3 the Secretary at such time, in such form, and accompanied 

4 by such information, agreements, and assurances as the 

5 Secretary may reasonably require. 

6 ‘‘(c) PREFERENCE.—In awarding grants under this 

7 section, the Secretary shall give preference to applications 

8 that demonstrate a commitment to serving disadvantaged 

9 students. 

10 ‘‘(d) USE OF FUNDS.—Each grant awarded under 

11 this section shall provide to an institution of higher edu12 cation funds to support a pilot program for the institution 

13 to make digital course materials available to under14 graduate students in at least two different academic de15 partments. Such funds may be used for any of the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(1) Purchasing and maintaining electronic 

18 equipment or software necessary for the operation of 

19 the pilot program, including mobile computer devices 

20 and accompanying hardware, software applications, 

21 computer systems and platforms, and other digital 

22 and online services and support. 

23 ‘‘(2) Purchasing and maintaining digital and 

24 online content for the institution to make available 

25 electronically to instructors or students, including 


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1 paying any copyright fees associated with the digital 

2 distribution of physical course materials. 

3 ‘‘(3) Hiring staff for the administration of the 

4 pilot program, with priority given to hiring enrolled 

5 undergraduate students. 

6 ‘‘(4) Building or acquiring extra storage space 

7 dedicated to equipment used for the pilot program. 

8 ‘‘(5) Supporting professional development ac9 tivities for instructors, instructional aides, or other 

10 personnel as needed to support implementation of 

11 the pilot program. 

12 ‘‘(6) Revising and adapting academic curricula 

13 as needed to implement the pilot program. 

14 ‘‘(7) Acquiring such other goods or services as 

15 the Secretary determines appropriate. 

16 ‘‘(e) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) REPORT TO THE SECRETARY.—After a pe18 riod of time to be determined by the Secretary, each 

19 institution of higher education that receives a grant 

20 under this section shall submit to the Secretary a re21 port that includes— 

22 ‘‘(A) an assessment of the effectiveness of 

23 the pilot program funded by the grant in reduc24 ing the cost of attendance for students; 


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1 ‘‘(B) an assessment of any impact of the 

2 pilot program on student achievement; 

3 ‘‘(C) an accounting of the purposes for 

4 which the grant funds were expended; and 

5 ‘‘(D) any additional information the Sec6 retary reasonably requires. 

7 ‘‘(2) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 

8 three years after the end of the first fiscal year in 

9 which a grant is awarded under this section, the 

10 Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on the 

11 effectiveness of the grants. Such report shall in12 clude— 

13 ‘‘(A) an estimate by the Secretary of the 

14 amount of money saved by students who par15 ticipate in the pilot programs; 

16 ‘‘(B) a summary of the best practices de17 veloped in the pilot programs; 

18 ‘‘(C) a description of the types of digital 

19 course materials used in the pilot programs, in20 cluding electronic books, interactive and adapt21 ive digital learning tools, and open educational 

22 resources; and 

23 ‘‘(D) any recommendations the Secretary 

24 determines appropriate regarding future conVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:57 May 07, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2089.IH H2089

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1 gressional action related to student access to 

2 digital course materials. 

3 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 ‘‘(1) COST OF ATTENDANCE.—The term ‘cost of 

5 attendance’ has the meaning given the term in sec6 tion 472. 

7 ‘‘(2) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.— 

8 The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the 

9 meaning given the term in section 101(a), except 

10 that such term only includes public institutions. 

11 ‘‘(3) DIGITAL COURSE MATERIALS.—The term 

12 ‘digital course materials’ includes electronic books, 

13 portable document format and word-processing docu14 ments, Internet websites, interactive and adaptive 

15 digital learning tools, open educational resources, 

16 and other digital and online educational resources. 

17 ‘‘(4) OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES.—The 

18 term ‘open educational resources’ means digital 

19 course materials that are made freely available on20 line to the public with a permanent copyright license 

21 granting advance permission for the public to access, 

22 distribute, adapt, and otherwise use the work with 

23 appropriate attribution to the authors as set forth in 

24 the materials. 


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1 ‘‘(5) MOBILE COMPUTER DEVICE.—The term 

2 ‘mobile computer device’ means an electronic reader 

3 or tablet computer. 

4 ‘‘(6) DISADVANTAGED STUDENT.—The term 

5 ‘disadvantaged student’ means an undergraduate 

6 student who is— 

7 ‘‘(A) from a low-income family; 

8 ‘‘(B) a minority; or 

9 ‘‘(C) from an economically or otherwise 

10 disadvantaged background. 

11 ‘‘(g) FUNDING.—Of the funds made available in ap12 propriation Acts for fiscal years 2016, 2017, and 2018 

13 for the purpose of making competitive grants to institu14 tions of higher education under this Act, the Secretary 

15 may make available to carry out this section not more than 

16 $20,000,000. 

17 ‘‘(h) SUNSET.—No grants may be awarded under 

18 this section after September 30, 2018.’’. 

Æ 


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