II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1803 

To modify the Federal TRIO programs. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 12, 2019 

Ms. COLLINS (for herself, Ms. BALDWIN, Mrs. CAPITO, and Mr. TESTER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To modify the Federal TRIO programs. 

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 ‘‘Educational Oppor5 tunity and Success Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FEDERAL TRIO PROGRAMS AMENDMENTS. 

7 (a) REVIEW AND NOTIFICATION BY THE SEC8 RETARY.—Section 402A(c) of the Higher Education Act 

9 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a–11(c)) is amended by striking 

10 paragraph (8) and inserting the following: 


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1 ‘‘(8) REVIEW AND NOTIFICATION BY THE SEC2 RETARY.— 

3 ‘‘(A) GUIDANCE.—Not less than 90 days 

4 before the commencement of each competition 

5 for a grant under this chapter, the Secretary 

6 shall issue nonregulatory guidance regarding 

7 the rights and responsibilities of applicants with 

8 respect to the application and evaluation proc9 ess for programs and projects assisted under 

10 this chapter, including applicant access to peer 

11 review comments. The guidance shall describe 

12 the procedures for the submission, processing, 

13 and scoring of applications for grants under 

14 this chapter, including the information de15 scribed in subparagraph (B). 

16 ‘‘(B) TECHNICAL COMPONENTS OF APPLI17 CATIONS.— 

18 ‘‘(i) ESTABLISHMENT AND TREAT19 MENT OF NONSUBSTANTIVE TECHNICAL

20 COMPONENTS OF APPLICATIONS.—With re21 spect to any competition for a grant under 

22 this chapter, the Secretary may only estab23 lish voluntary page limit and formatting 

24 requirements for grant applications and 

25 may not reject grant applications that do 


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1 not meet those voluntary requirements. 

2 The Secretary may suggest page limits and 

3 formatting standards, (including with re4 spect to font size, font style, font type, line 

5 spacing, paragraph justification, and page 

6 margins), but may not use noncompliance 

7 with these suggested requirements as a 

8 basis to reject or penalize grant applica9 tions. 

10 ‘‘(ii) IDENTIFICATION AND TREAT11 MENT OF TECHNICAL BUDGET ERRORS IN

12 APPLICATIONS.— 

13 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—With respect 

14 to any competition for a grant under 

15 this chapter, the Secretary may not 

16 reject or penalize grant applications 

17 on the basis of a typographical or 

18 rounding error in a proposed budget 

19 until the Secretary has given the ap20 plicant an opportunity for correction 

21 in accordance with subclause (II). 

22 ‘‘(II) NOTICE AND OPPORTUNITY

23 FOR CORRECTION.—The Secretary 

24 shall provide notice and identification 

25 of an error described in subclause (I) 


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1 by email and phone to the applicant 

2 before awarding grants for each com3 petition. During a period of not fewer 

4 than 14 days, the Secretary shall 

5 allow the applicant to submit a re6 vised application that corrects the 

7 identified error. 

8 ‘‘(III) TREATMENT OF REVISED

9 APPLICATIONS.—The Secretary shall 

10 treat the revised application in the 

11 same manner as a timely submitted 

12 application. 

13 ‘‘(IV) FAILURE TO CORRECT.—If 

14 an applicant has received a notice and 

15 opportunity for correction of a typo16 graphical or rounding error in a pro17 posed budget in accordance with sub18 clause (II) and the applicant fails to 

19 correct the error and submit a revised 

20 application before the deadline de21 scribed in that subclause, the Sec22 retary may reject or penalize that 

23 grant application. 

24 ‘‘(C) REVIEW.— 


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1 ‘‘(i) REQUEST FOR REVIEW.—With 

2 respect to any competition for a grant 

3 under this chapter, an applicant may re4 quest a review if the applicant— 

5 ‘‘(I) has evidence that a specific 

6 technical, administrative, or scoring 

7 error was made by the Department, 

8 an agent of the Department, or a peer 

9 reviewer, with respect to the scoring 

10 or processing of a submitted applica11 tion; and 

12 ‘‘(II) has otherwise met all of the 

13 requirements for submission of the 

14 application. 

15 ‘‘(ii) ERROR MADE BY THE DEPART16 MENT.—In the case of evidence of error by 

17 the Department or an agent of the Depart18 ment, other than a peer reviewer, the Sec19 retary shall review any evidence submitted 

20 by the applicant and provide a timely re21 sponse to the applicant. If the Secretary 

22 determines that an error was made by the 

23 Department or an agent of the Depart24 ment, other than a peer reviewer, the SecVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:20 Jun 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1803.IS S1803

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1 retary shall correct the error and accord2 ingly adjust the applicant score. 

3 ‘‘(iii) ERROR MADE BY A PEER RE4 VIEWER.— 

5 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—In the case 

6 of evidence of error by a peer re7 viewer, a secondary review panel shall 

8 automatically and promptly evaluate 

9 the application for consideration in 

10 the applicable grant competition upon 

11 receipt of a request by any such appli12 cant. Examples of errors warranting 

13 secondary review may include— 

14 ‘‘(aa) points withheld for 

15 criteria not required in statute, 

16 regulation, or guidance governing 

17 a program under this chapter or 

18 the application for a grant for 

19 such program; or 

20 ‘‘(bb) information pertaining 

21 to selection criteria that was in22 correctly determined to be miss23 ing from an application. 

24 ‘‘(II) TIMELY REVIEW AND RE25 PLACEMENT SCORE.—The secondary 


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1 review panel described in subclause (I) 

2 shall conduct a secondary review in a 

3 timely fashion, and the score resulting 

4 from the secondary review shall re5 place the score from the initial peer 

6 review. 

7 ‘‘(III) COMPOSITION OF SEC8 ONDARY REVIEW PANEL.—The sec9 ondary review panel shall be composed 

10 of reviewers each of whom— 

11 ‘‘(aa) did not review the ap12 plication in the original peer re13 view; 

14 ‘‘(bb) is a member of the co15 hort of peer reviewers for the 

16 grant program that is the subject 

17 of such secondary review; and 

18 ‘‘(cc) to the extent prac19 ticable, has conducted peer re20 views in not less than 2 previous 

21 competitions for the grant pro22 gram that is the subject of such 

23 secondary review. 

24 ‘‘(IV) FINAL SCORE.—The final 

25 peer review score of an application 


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1 subject to a secondary review under 

2 this clause shall promptly be adjusted 

3 appropriately using the score awarded 

4 by the secondary review panel, so as 

5 not to interfere with the timely award6 ing of grants for the applicable grant 

7 competition. 

8 ‘‘(iv) FINALITY.— 

9 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—A determina10 tion by the Secretary under clause (ii) 

11 shall not be reviewable by any officer 

12 or employee of the Department other 

13 than the Secretary. 

14 ‘‘(II) SCORING.—The score 

15 awarded by a secondary review panel 

16 under clause (iii) shall not be review17 able by any officer or employee of the 

18 Department other than the Secretary. 

19 ‘‘(v) FUNDING OF APPLICATIONS

20 WITH CERTAIN ADJUSTED SCORES.—Appli21 cations with scores that are adjusted up22 ward under clause (ii) or (iii) that equal or 

23 exceed the minimum cut-off score for the 

24 applicable grant competition shall be fund25 ed by the Secretary using general or adVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:20 Jun 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1803.IS S1803

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1 ministrative funds available to the Sec2 retary other than those funds appropriated 

3 or allocated for the programs authorized 

4 by this chapter.’’. 

5 (b) OUTREACH.—Section 402A(d)(3) of the Higher 

6 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a–11(d)(3)) is 

7 amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘The Sec8 retary shall also host at least one virtual, interactive train9 ing using telecommunications technology to ensure that 

10 interested applicants have access to technical assistance.’’. 

11 (c) DOCUMENTATION OF STATUS AS A LOW-INCOME

12 INDIVIDUAL.—Section 402A(e) of the Higher Education 

13 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a–11(e)) is amended— 

14 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

15 (A) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘or’’ 

16 after the semicolon; 

17 (B) in subparagraph (D), by striking the 

18 period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 

19 and 

20 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(E) documentation that the student has 

22 been determined to be eligible for a Federal Pell 

23 Grant under section 401; or 

24 ‘‘(F) for grants authorized under section 

25 402B and 402F of this chapter, documentation 


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1 that a student is attending a school that had a 

2 percentage of enrolled students who are identi3 fied students (as defined in section 

4 11(a)(1)(F)(i) of the Richard B. Russell Na5 tional School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 

6 1759a(a)(1)(F)(i))) that meets or exceeds the 

7 threshold described in section 11(a)(1)(F)(viii) 

8 of that Act during the school year prior to the 

9 first year of the period for which such grant is 

10 awarded.’’; and 

11 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

12 (A) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘or’’ 

13 after the semicolon; 

14 (B) in subparagraph (D), by striking the 

15 period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 

16 and 

17 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(E) documentation that the student has 

19 been determined to be eligible for a Federal Pell 

20 Grant under section 401; or 

21 ‘‘(F) for grants authorized under section 

22 402B and 402F of this chapter, documentation 

23 that a student is attending a school that had a 

24 percentage of enrolled students who are identi25 fied students (as defined in section 


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1 11(a)(1)(F)(i) of the Richard B. Russell Na2 tional School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 

3 1759a(a)(1)(F)(i))) that meets or exceeds the 

4 threshold described in section 11(a)(1)(F)(viii) 

5 of that Act during the school year prior to the 

6 first year of the period for which such grant is 

7 awarded.’’. 

8 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 

9 402A(g) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

10 1070a–11(g)) is amended to read as follows: 

11 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the 

12 purpose of making grants and contracts under this chap13 ter, there are authorized to be appropriated 

14 $1,060,000,000 for fiscal year 2020 and such sums as 

15 may be necessary for each of the five succeeding fiscal 

16 years. Of the amount appropriated under this chapter, the 

17 Secretary may use no more than 1 percent of such amount 

18 to obtain additional qualified readers and additional staff 

19 to review applications, to increase the level of oversight 

20 monitoring, to support impact studies, program assess21 ments, and reviews, and to provide technical assistance to 

22 potential applicants and current grantees.’’. 

23 (e) DEFINITIONS.—Section 402A(h) of the Higher 

24 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a–11(h)) is 


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1 amended by striking paragraph (4) and inserting the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(4) LOW-INCOME INDIVIDUAL.—The term 

4 ‘low-income individual’ means— 

5 ‘‘(A) an individual from a family whose ad6 justable gross income for the preceding year did 

7 not exceed 150 percent of an amount equal to 

8 the poverty level determined by using criteria of 

9 poverty established by the Bureau of the Cen10 sus; 

11 ‘‘(B) an individual from a family whose ad12 justable gross income, as reported on the indi13 vidual’s most recently completed Free Applica14 tion for Federal Student Aid, did not exceed 

15 150 percent of an amount equal to the poverty 

16 level determined by using criteria of poverty es17 tablished by the Bureau of the Census for that 

18 year; 

19 ‘‘(C) an individual who has been deter20 mined to be eligible for a Federal Pell Grant 

21 under section 401; or 

22 ‘‘(D) for grants authorized under section 

23 402B and 402F of this chapter, a student who 

24 is attending a school that had a percentage of 

25 enrolled students who are identified students 


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1 (as defined in section 11(a)(1)(F)(i) of the 

2 Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 

3 (42 U.S.C. 1759a(a)(1)(F)(i))) that meets or 

4 exceeds the threshold described in section 

5 11(a)(1)(F)(viii) of that Act during the school 

6 year prior to the first year of the period for 

7 which such grant is awarded.’’. 

Æ 


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