I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4259 

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 

MARCH 14, 2014 

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 2014’’ or the 

6 ‘‘E–BOOK Act of 2014’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Rising costs are making it increasingly dif2 ficult for students and their families to afford a col3 lege education. 

4 (2) In addition to the growing price of tuition, 

5 fees, and room and board, the average college stu6 dent in the United States must also spend more 

7 than $1,000 per year on textbooks and supplies. 

8 (3) New learning technologies in higher edu9 cation provide a growing opportunity to reduce the 

10 cost of course materials for students and their fami11 lies. 

12 (4) All students deserve the opportunity to ob13 tain a high-quality education and acquire the skills 

14 needed to compete in 21st-century economy. 

15 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

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

17 cost of public college education for undergraduate stu18 dents by funding pilot programs in institutions of higher 

19 education to provide expanded access to digital course ma20 terials as part of their academic programs. 

21 SEC. 4. GRANTS TO EXPAND ACCESS TO DIGITAL COURSE 

22 MATERIALS. 

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

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

25 the following new part: 


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1 ‘‘PART BB—GRANTS FOR THE EXPANSION OF 

2 ACCESS TO DIGITAL COURSE MATERIALS 

3 ‘‘SEC. 891. GRANTS FOR ACCESS TO DIGITAL COURSE MATE4 RIALS. 

5 ‘‘(a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—From amounts made avail7 able by the Secretary pursuant to subsection (g), the 

8 Secretary may award grants on a competitive basis 

9 to not more than 10 institutions of higher education 

10 to reduce the cost of attendance for undergraduate 

11 students by providing such students with expanded 

12 access to digital course materials. 

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

14 The Secretary shall determine the amount of funds 

15 to be awarded for each grant based on the number 

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

17 no grant under this section shall be in an amount 

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

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

20 a grant under this section shall submit an application to 

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

22 by such information, agreements, and assurances as the 

23 Secretary may reasonably require. 

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

25 section, the Secretary shall give preference to applications 


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1 that demonstrate a commitment to serving disadvantaged 

2 students. 

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

4 this section shall provide to an institution of higher edu5 cation funds to support a pilot program for the institution 

6 to make digital course materials available to under7 graduate students in at least two different academic de8 partments. Such funds may be used for any of the fol9 lowing: 

10 ‘‘(1) Purchasing and maintaining electronic 

11 equipment or software necessary for the operation of 

12 the pilot program, including mobile computer devices 

13 and accompanying hardware, software applications, 

14 computer systems and platforms, digital and online 

15 content, online instruction, and other online services 

16 and support. 

17 ‘‘(2) Purchasing and maintaining digital and 

18 online content for the institution to make available 

19 electronically to instructors or students, including 

20 paying any copyright fees associated with the digital 

21 distribution of physical course materials. 

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

23 pilot program, with priority given to hiring enrolled 

24 undergraduate students. 


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

2 dedicated to equipment used for the pilot program. 

3 ‘‘(5) Revising and adapting academic curricula 

4 as needed to implement the pilot program. 

5 ‘‘(6) Acquiring such other goods or services as 

6 the Secretary determines appropriate. 

7 ‘‘(e) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 

8 ‘‘(1) REPORT TO THE SECRETARY.—After a pe9 riod of time to be determined by the Secretary, each 

10 institution of higher education that receives a grant 

11 under this section shall submit to the Secretary a re12 port that includes— 

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

14 the pilot program funded by the grant in reduc15 ing the cost of attendance for students; 

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

17 pilot program on student achievement; 

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

19 which the grant funds were expended; and 

20 ‘‘(D) any additional information the Sec21 retary reasonably requires. 

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

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

24 which a grant is awarded under this section, the 

25 Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on the 


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1 effectiveness of the grants. Such report shall in2 clude— 

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

4 amount of money saved by students who par5 ticipate in the pilot programs; 

6 ‘‘(B) a summary of the best practices de7 veloped in the pilot programs; 

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

9 course materials used in the pilot programs, in10 cluding electronic books, interactive and adapt11 ive digital learning tools, and open educational 

12 resources; and 

13 ‘‘(D) any recommendations the Secretary 

14 determines appropriate regarding future con15 gressional action related to student access to 

16 digital course materials. 

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

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

19 attendance’ has the meaning given the term in sec20 tion 472. 

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

22 The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the 

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

24 that such term only includes public institutions. 


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

2 ‘digital course materials’ includes electronic books, 

3 portable document format and word-processing docu4 ments, Internet websites, interactive and adaptive 

5 digital learning tools, open educational resources, 

6 and other digital and online educational resources. 

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

8 term ‘open educational resources’ means digital 

9 course materials that are made freely available on10 line to the public with a permanent copyright license 

11 granting advance permission for the public to access, 

12 distribute, adapt, and otherwise use the work with 

13 appropriate attribution to the authors as set forth in 

14 the materials. 

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

16 ‘mobile computer device’ means an electronic reader 

17 or tablet computer. 

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

19 ‘disadvantaged student’ means an undergraduate 

20 student who is— 

21 ‘‘(A) from a low-income family; 

22 ‘‘(B) a minority; or 

23 ‘‘(C) from an economically or otherwise 

24 disadvantaged background. 


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1 ‘‘(g) FUNDING.—Of the funds made available in ap2 propriation Acts for fiscal years 2015, 2016, and 2017 

3 for the purpose of making competitive grants to institu4 tions of higher education under this Act, the Secretary 

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

6 $20,000,000. 

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

8 this section after September 30, 2017.’’. 

Æ 


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