I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4414 

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 

SEPTEMBER 19, 2019 

Ms. DELBENE (for herself, Mr. HARDER of California, and Mrs. BROOKS of 

Indiana) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

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 2019’’ or the 

6 ‘‘E–BOOK Act of 2019’’. 

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 that are not otherwise obli15 gated, the Secretary may award grants on a com16 petitive basis to not more than 10 institutions of 

17 higher education to reduce the cost of attendance for 

18 undergraduate students by providing such students 

19 with expanded 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) Maintaining digital and online content for 

24 the institution to make available electronically to in25 structors or students. 


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

2 pilot program, with priority given to hiring enrolled 

3 undergraduate students. 

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

5 dedicated to equipment used for the pilot program. 

6 ‘‘(5) Supporting professional development ac7 tivities for instructors, instructional aides, or other 

8 personnel as needed to support implementation of 

9 the pilot program. 

10 ‘‘(6) Revising and adapting academic curricula 

11 as needed to implement the pilot program. 

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

13 the Secretary determines appropriate. 

14 ‘‘(e) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) REPORT TO THE SECRETARY.—After a pe16 riod of time to be determined by the Secretary, each 

17 institution of higher education that receives a grant 

18 under this section shall submit to the Secretary a re19 port that includes— 

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

21 the pilot program funded by the grant in reduc22 ing the cost of attendance for students; 

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

24 pilot program on student achievement; 


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

2 which the grant funds were expended; and 

3 ‘‘(D) any additional information the Sec4 retary reasonably requires. 

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

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

7 which a grant is awarded under this section, the 

8 Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on the 

9 effectiveness of the grants. Such report shall in10 clude— 

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

12 amount of money saved by students who par13 ticipate in the pilot programs; 

14 ‘‘(B) a summary of the best practices de15 veloped in the pilot programs; 

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

17 course materials used in the pilot programs, in18 cluding electronic books, interactive and adapt19 ive digital learning tools, and open educational 

20 resources; and 

21 ‘‘(D) any recommendations the Secretary 

22 determines appropriate regarding future con23 gressional action related to student access to 

24 digital course materials. 

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


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

2 attendance’ has the meaning given the term in sec3 tion 472. 

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

5 The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the 

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

7 that such term only includes public institutions. 

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

9 ‘digital course materials’ includes electronic books, 

10 portable document format and word-processing docu11 ments, internet websites, interactive and adaptive 

12 digital learning tools, open educational resources, 

13 and other digital and online educational resources. 

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

15 term ‘open educational resources’ means digital 

16 course materials that are made freely available on17 line to the public with a permanent copyright license 

18 granting advance permission for the public to access, 

19 distribute, adapt, and otherwise use the work with 

20 appropriate attribution to the authors as set forth in 

21 the materials. 

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

23 ‘mobile computer device’ means an electronic reader 

24 or tablet computer. 


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

2 ‘disadvantaged student’ means an undergraduate 

3 student who is— 

4 ‘‘(A) from a low-income family; 

5 ‘‘(B) a minority; or 

6 ‘‘(C) from an economically or otherwise 

7 disadvantaged background. 

8 ‘‘(g) SUNSET.—No grants may be awarded under this 

9 section after September 30, 2021.’’. 

Æ 


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