I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5902 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require staff and faculty 

to report foreign gifts and contracts. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 6, 2023 

Mr. JAMES (for himself and Ms. FOXX) introduced the following bill 

OCTOBER 25, 2023 

Referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require 

staff and faculty to report foreign gifts and contracts. 

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 ‘‘Disclose Getting In5 volved in Foreign Transactions Act’’ or the ‘‘Disclose 

6 GIFT Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. POLICY REGARDING CONFLICTS OF INTEREST 

2 FROM FOREIGN GIFTS AND CONTRACTS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part B of title I of the Higher 

4 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1011 et seq.) is amend5 ed by inserting after section 117 the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 117A. INSTITUTIONAL POLICY REGARDING FOREIGN 

7 GIFTS AND CONTRACTS TO FACULTY AND 

8 STAFF. 

9 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT TO MAINTAIN POLICY AND

10 DATABASE.—Beginning not later than 90 days after the 

11 date of the enactment of the Disclose GIFT Act, each in12 stitution described in subsection (b) shall maintain— 

13 ‘‘(1) a policy requiring faculty, professional 

14 staff, and other staff engaged in research and devel15 opment (as determined by the institution and meas16 ured by the Higher Education Research and Devel17 opment Survey of the National Center for Science 

18 and Engineering Statistics) employed at the institu19 tion to disclose in a report to such institution on 

20 July 1 of each calendar year that begins after the 

21 year in which such enactment date occurs— 

22 ‘‘(A) any gift received from a foreign 

23 source in the previous calendar year, the value 

24 of which is greater than the minimal value (as 

25 such term is defined in section 7342(a) of title 

26 5, United States Code) or is of undetermined 


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1 value, and including the date on which the gift 

2 was received; 

3 ‘‘(B) any contract entered into with a for4 eign source in the previous calendar year, the 

5 value of which is $5,000 or more, considered 

6 alone or in combination with all other contracts 

7 with that foreign source within the calendar 

8 year, and including the date on which such con9 tract commences and, as applicable, the date on 

10 which such contract terminates; 

11 ‘‘(C) any contract with a foreign source in 

12 force during the previous calendar year that has 

13 an undetermined monetary value, and including 

14 the date on which such contract commences 

15 and, as applicable, the date on which such con16 tract terminates; and 

17 ‘‘(D) any contract entered into with a for18 eign country of concern or foreign entity of con19 cern in the previous calendar year, the value of 

20 which is $0 or more, and including the begin21 ning and ending dates of such contract and the 

22 full text of such contract and any addenda; 

23 ‘‘(2) a publicly available and searchable data24 base (in electronic and downloadable format), on a 

25 website of the institution, of the information reVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Nov 03, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5902.IH H5902

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1 quired to be disclosed under paragraph (1), sortable 

2 and searchable by the date received (if a gift) or the 

3 date commenced (if a contract), the attributable 

4 country with respect to which information is being 

5 disclosed, and name of the individual making the 

6 disclosure, and until the latest of— 

7 ‘‘(A) the date that is 4 years after the date 

8 on which— 

9 ‘‘(i) a gift referred to in paragraph 

10 (1)(A) is received; or 

11 ‘‘(ii) a contract referred to in sub12 paragraph (B), (C) or (D) of paragraph 

13 (1) begins; or 

14 ‘‘(B) the date on which a contract referred 

15 to in subparagraph (B), (C) or (D) of para16 graph (1) terminates; and 

17 ‘‘(3) a plan effectively to identify and manage 

18 potential information gathering by foreign sources 

19 through espionage targeting faculty, professional 

20 staff, and other staff engaged in research and devel21 opment (as determined by the institution and meas22 ured by the Higher Education Research and Devel23 opment Survey of the National Center for Science 

24 and Engineering Statistics) that may arise from 


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1 gifts received from, or contracts entered into with, a 

2 foreign source, including through the use of— 

3 ‘‘(A) periodic communications; 

4 ‘‘(B) accurate reporting under paragraph 

5 (2) of the information required to be disclosed 

6 under paragraph (1); and 

7 ‘‘(C) enforcement of the policy described in 

8 paragraph (1). 

9 ‘‘(b) INSTITUTIONS.—An institution shall be subject 

10 to the requirements of this section if such institution— 

11 ‘‘(1) is an eligible institution for the purposes 

12 of any program authorized under title IV; and 

13 ‘‘(2)(A) received more than $50,000,000 in 

14 Federal funds in any of the previous five calendar 

15 years to support (in whole or in part) research and 

16 development (as determined by the institution and 

17 measured by the Higher Education Research and 

18 Development Survey of the National Center for 

19 Science and Engineering Statistics); or 

20 ‘‘(B) receives funds under title VI. 

21 ‘‘(c) ENFORCEMENT.— 

22 ‘‘(1) INVESTIGATION.—The Secretary (acting 

23 through the General Counsel of the Department) 

24 may conduct investigations of possible violations of 

25 this section by institutions. 


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1 ‘‘(2) CIVIL ACTION.—Whenever it appears that 

2 an institution has knowingly or willfully failed to 

3 comply with a requirement of this section (including 

4 any rule or regulation promulgated under this sec5 tion) based on such an investigation, a civil action 

6 may be brought by the Attorney General, at the re7 quest of the Secretary, in an appropriate district 

8 court of the United States, or the appropriate 

9 United States court of any territory or other place 

10 subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, to 

11 request such court to compel compliance with the re12 quirement of this section that has been violated. 

13 ‘‘(3) COSTS AND OTHER FINES.—An institution 

14 that is compelled to comply with a requirement of 

15 this section pursuant to paragraph (2) shall— 

16 ‘‘(A) pay to the Treasury of the United 

17 States the full costs to the United States of ob18 taining compliance with the requirement of this 

19 section, including all associated costs of inves20 tigation and enforcement; and 

21 ‘‘(B) be subject to the applicable fines de22 scribed in paragraph (4). 

23 ‘‘(4) FINES FOR VIOLATIONS.—The Secretary 

24 shall impose a fine on an institution that knowingly 


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1 or willfully fails to comply with a requirement of this 

2 section as follows: 

3 ‘‘(A) FIRST-TIME VIOLATIONS.—In the 

4 case of an institution that knowingly or willfully 

5 fails to comply with a requirement of this sec6 tion with respect to a calendar year, and that 

7 has not previously knowingly or willfully failed 

8 to comply with such a requirement, the Sec9 retary shall impose a fine on the institution of 

10 not less than $250,000, but not more than the 

11 total amount of gifts or contracts reported by 

12 such institution in the database required under 

13 subsection (a)(2). 

14 ‘‘(B) SUBSEQUENT VIOLATIONS.—In the 

15 case of an institution that has been fined pur16 suant to clause (i) with respect to a calendar 

17 year, and that knowingly or willfully fails to 

18 comply with a requirement of this section with 

19 respect to any additional calendar year, the 

20 Secretary shall impose a fine on the institution 

21 with respect to any such additional calendar 

22 year in an amount that is not less than 

23 $500,000, but not more than twice the total 

24 amount of gifts or contracts reported by such 


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1 institution in the database required under sub2 section (a)(2). 

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

4 ‘‘(1) CONTRACT.—the term ‘contract’— 

5 ‘‘(A) means any— 

6 ‘‘(i) agreement for the acquisition, by 

7 purchase, lease, or barter, of property or 

8 services by a foreign source for the direct 

9 benefit or use of any of the parties to the 

10 agreement; 

11 ‘‘(ii) affiliation, agreement, or similar 

12 transaction with a foreign source based on 

13 the use or exchange of the name, likeness, 

14 time, services, or resources of faculty, pro15 fessional staff, or other staff engaged in 

16 research and development (as determined 

17 by the institution and measured by the 

18 Higher Education Research and Develop19 ment Survey of the National Center for 

20 Science and Engineering Statistics) em21 ployed at an institution described in sub22 section (b); or 

23 ‘‘(iii) purchase, lease, or barter of 

24 property or services from a foreign source 


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1 that is a foreign country of concern or a 

2 foreign entity of concern; and 

3 ‘‘(B) does not include any fair-market, 

4 arms-length agreement made by faculty, profes5 sional staff, and other staff engaged in research 

6 and development (as determined by the institu7 tion and measured by the Higher Education 

8 Research and Development Survey of the Na9 tional Center for Science and Engineering Sta10 tistics) for the acquisition, by purchase, lease, 

11 or barter of property or services from a foreign 

12 source other than such a foreign source that is 

13 a foreign country of concern or a foreign entity 

14 of concern; and 

15 ‘‘(2) FOREIGN COUNTRY OF CONCERN.—The 

16 term ‘foreign country of concern’ includes the fol17 lowing: 

18 ‘‘(A) A country that is a covered nation (as 

19 defined in section 4872(d) of title 10, United 

20 States Code). 

21 ‘‘(B) Any country that the Secretary, in 

22 consultation with the Secretary of Defense, the 

23 Secretary of State, and the Director of National 

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1 duct that is detrimental to the national security 

2 or foreign policy of the United States. 

3 ‘‘(3) FOREIGN ENTITY OF CONCERN.—The 

4 term ‘foreign entity of concern’ has the meaning 

5 given such term in section 10612(a) of the Research 

6 and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act 

7 (42 U.S.C. 19221(a)) and includes a foreign entity 

8 that is identified on the list published under section 

9 1286(c)(8)(A) of the John S. McCain National De10 fense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (10 

11 U.S.C. 22 4001 note; Public Law 115–232). 

12 ‘‘(4) FOREIGN SOURCE.—The term ‘foreign 

13 source’ means— 

14 ‘‘(A) a foreign government, including an 

15 agency of a foreign government; 

16 ‘‘(B) a legal entity, governmental or other17 wise, created under the laws of a foreign state 

18 or states; 

19 ‘‘(C) a natural person who is not a citizen 

20 or a national of the United States or a trust 

21 territory or protectorate thereof; and 

22 ‘‘(D) an agent, including— 

23 ‘‘(i) a subsidiary or affiliate of a for24 eign legal entity, acting on behalf of a for25 eign source; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) an entity or organization that op2 erates primarily for the benefit of, or 

3 under the auspices of, a foreign legal enti4 ty, including a foundation or a related en5 tity (such as any educational, cultural, or 

6 language entity). 

7 ‘‘(5) GIFT.—The term ‘gift’— 

8 ‘‘(A) means any gift of money, property, 

9 resources, staff, or services; and 

10 ‘‘(B) does not include— 

11 ‘‘(i) any payment of one or more ele12 ments of a student’s cost of attendance (as 

13 such term is defined in section 472) to an 

14 institution by, or scholarship from, a for15 eign source who is a natural person, acting 

16 in their individual capacity and not as an 

17 agent for, at the request or direction of, or 

18 on behalf of, any person or entity (except 

19 the student), made for not more than 15 

20 students, and that is not made under a re21 stricted or conditional contract with such 

22 foreign source; or 

23 ‘‘(ii) assignment or license of reg24 istered industrial and intellectual property 

25 rights, such as patents, utility models, 


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1 trademarks, or copyrights, or technical as2 sistance, that are not identified as being 

3 associated with a national security risk or 

4 concern by the Federal Research Security 

5 Council as described under section 7902 of 

6 title 31, United States Code; or 

7 ‘‘(iii) decorations (as such term is de8 fined in section 7342(a) of title 5, United 

9 States Code). 

10 ‘‘(6) INSTITUTION.—The term ‘institution’ 

11 means an institution of higher education (as such 

12 term is defined in section 102, other than an institu13 tion described in subsection (a)(1)(c) of such sec14 tion). 

15 ‘‘(7) PROFESSIONAL STAFF.—the term ‘profes16 sional staff’ means professional employees, as de17 fined in section 3 of the Fair Labor Standards Act 

18 of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203).’’. 

19 (b) PROGRAM PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT.—Section 

20 487(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

21 1094) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

22 ‘‘(30)(A) An institution will comply with the re23 quirements of section 117A. 


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1 ‘‘(B) An institution that, for 3 consecutive in2 stitutional fiscal years, violates any requirement of 

3 section 117A shall— 

4 ‘‘(i) be ineligible to participate in the pro5 grams authorized by this title for a period of 

6 not less than 2 institutional fiscal years; and 

7 ‘‘(ii) in order to regain eligibility to partici8 pate in such programs, demonstrate compliance 

9 with all requirements of such section for not 

10 less than 2 institutional fiscal years after the 

11 institutional fiscal year in which such institu12 tion became ineligible.’’. 

Æ 


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