I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1023 
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require disclosure of certain 
foreign investments within endowments, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 5, 2025 
Mr. OWENS (for himself and Mr. HARRIS of North Carolina) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and 
Workforce 
A BILL 
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require 
disclosure of certain foreign investments within endow-
ments, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reporting on Invest-
ments in Foreign Adversaries Act’’ or the ‘‘RIFA Act’’. 
SEC. 2. INVESTMENT DISCLOSURE REPORT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Part B of title I of the Higher 
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1011 et seq.) is amend-
ed by inserting after section 117 the following: 
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‘‘SEC. 117A. INVESTMENT DISCLOSURE REPORT. 
‘‘(a) INVESTMENT DISCLOSURE REPORT.—A speci-
fied institution shall file a disclosure report in accordance 
with subsection (b) with the Secretary on each July 31 
immediately following any calendar year in which the spec-
ified institution purchases, sells, or holds (directly or indi-
rectly through any chain of ownership) one or more invest-
ments of concern. 
‘‘(b) CONTENTS OF REPORT.—Each report to the 
Secretary required by subsection (a) shall contain, with 
respect to the calendar year preceding the calendar year 
in which such report is filed, the following information: 
‘‘(1) A list of the investments of concern pur-
chased, sold, or held during such calendar year. 
‘‘(2) The aggregate fair market value of all in-
vestments of concern held as of the close of such cal-
endar year. 
‘‘(3) The combined value of all investments of 
concern sold over the course of such calendar year, 
as measured by the fair market value of such invest-
ments at the time of the sale. 
‘‘(4) The combined value of all capital gains 
from such sales of investments of concern. 
‘‘(c) TREATMENT
OF CERTAIN POOLED INVEST-
MENTS.— 
‘‘(1) POOLED INVESTMENT CLASSIFICATION.— 
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‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this 
section, except as provided in subparagraph 
(B), a specified interest acquired by a specified 
institution in a regulated investment company, 
exchange traded fund, or any other pooled in-
vestment that holds an investment of concern 
shall be treated as an investment of concern 
and shall be reported pursuant to paragraph 
(2)(A). 
‘‘(B) CERTIFICATION OF POOLED INVEST-
MENT.—Notwithstanding 
subparagraph 
(A), 
such specified interest shall not be subject to 
subparagraph (A) if the Secretary certifies, pur-
suant to paragraph (2)(B), that such pooled in-
vestment is not holding an investment of con-
cern. 
‘‘(2) PROCEDURES.—The Secretary, after con-
sultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the 
Securities and Exchange Commission, shall establish 
procedures under which a pooled investment de-
scribed in paragraph (1)— 
‘‘(A) shall be reported in accordance with 
the requirements of subsection (b); and 
‘‘(B) may be certified under paragraph 
(1)(B) as not holding an investment of concern. 
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‘‘(d) TREATMENT OF RELATED ORGANIZATIONS.— 
For purposes of this section, assets held by any related 
organization (as defined in section 4968(d)(2) of the In-
ternal Revenue Code of 1986) with respect to a specified 
institution shall be treated as held by such specified insti-
tution, except that— 
‘‘(1) such assets shall not be taken into account 
with respect to more than 1 specified institution; 
and 
‘‘(2) unless such organization is controlled by 
such institution or is described in section 509(a)(3) 
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 with respect 
to such institution, assets which are not intended or 
available for the use or benefit of such specified in-
stitution shall not be taken into account. 
‘‘(e) VALUATION OF DEBT.—For purposes of this 
section, the fair market value of any debt shall be the prin-
cipal amount of such debt. 
‘‘(f) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary, after consulta-
tion with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Securities 
and Exchange Commission, may issue such regulations or 
other guidance as may be necessary or appropriate to 
carry out the purposes of this section, including regula-
tions or other guidance providing for the proper applica-
tion of this section with respect to certain regulated invest-
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ment companies, exchange traded funds, and pooled in-
vestments. 
‘‘(g) COMPLIANCE OFFICER.—Any specified institu-
tion that is required to submit a report under subsection 
(a) shall designate, before the submission of such report, 
and maintain a compliance officer, who shall— 
‘‘(1) be a current employee or legally authorized 
agent of such institution; and 
‘‘(2) be responsible, on behalf of the institution, 
for personally certifying accurate compliance with 
the reporting requirements under this section. 
‘‘(h) DATABASE
REQUIREMENT.—Beginning not 
later than the May 31 of the calendar year following the 
date of enactment of the RIFA Act, the Secretary shall— 
‘‘(1) establish and maintain a searchable data-
base on a website of the Department, under which 
all reports submitted under this section— 
‘‘(A) are made publicly available (in elec-
tronic and downloadable format), including any 
information provided in such reports; 
‘‘(B) can be individually identified and 
compared; and 
‘‘(C) are searchable and sortable; and 
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‘‘(2) not later than 30 days after receipt of a 
disclosure report under this section, include such re-
port in such database. 
‘‘(i) ENFORCEMENT.— 
‘‘(1) INVESTIGATION.—The Secretary (acting 
through the General Counsel of the Department) 
shall conduct investigations of possible violations of 
this section by institutions and, whenever it appears 
that an institution has knowingly or willfully failed 
to comply with a requirement of this section (includ-
ing any rule or regulation promulgated under such 
section), shall request that the Attorney General 
bring a civil action in accordance with paragraph 
(2). 
‘‘(2) CIVIL ACTION.—Whenever it appears that 
an institution has knowingly or willfully failed to 
comply with a requirement of this section (including 
any rule or regulation promulgated under any such 
section) based on an investigation under paragraph 
(1), a civil action shall be brought by the Attorney 
General, at the request of the Secretary, in an ap-
propriate district court of the United States, or the 
appropriate United States court of any territory or 
other place subject to the jurisdiction of the United 
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States, to request such court to compel compliance 
with the requirement of this section. 
‘‘(3) COSTS AND OTHER FINES.—An institution 
that is compelled to comply with a requirement of 
this section pursuant to paragraph (2) shall— 
‘‘(A) pay to the Treasury of the United 
States the full costs to the United States of ob-
taining compliance with the requirement of this 
section, including all associated costs of inves-
tigation and enforcement; and 
‘‘(B) be subject to the applicable fines de-
scribed in paragraph (4). 
‘‘(4) FINES FOR VIOLATIONS.—The Secretary 
shall impose a fine on an institution that is com-
pelled to comply with a requirement of this section 
pursuant to paragraph (2) as follows: 
‘‘(A) FIRST-TIME
VIOLATIONS.—In the 
case of a specified institution that knowingly or 
willfully fails to comply with a requirement of 
this section with respect to a calendar year, and 
that has not previously knowingly or willfully 
failed to comply with such a requirement, the 
Secretary shall impose a fine on the institution 
in an amount that is not less than 50 percent 
and not more than 100 percent of the sum of— 
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‘‘(i) the aggregate fair market value 
of all investments of concern held by such 
institution as of the close of such calendar 
year; and 
‘‘(ii) the combined value of all invest-
ments of concern sold over the course of 
such calendar year, as measured by the 
fair market value of such investments at 
the time of the sale. 
‘‘(B) SUBSEQUENT
VIOLATIONS.—In the 
case of a specified institution that has been 
fined pursuant to subparagraph (A) with re-
spect to a calendar year, and that knowingly or 
willfully fails to comply with a requirement of 
this section with respect to any additional cal-
endar year, the Secretary shall impose a fine on 
the institution with respect to any such addi-
tional calendar year in an amount that is not 
less than 100 percent and not more than 200 
percent of the sum of— 
‘‘(i) the aggregate fair market value 
of all investments of concern held by such 
institution as of the close of such addi-
tional calendar year; and 
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‘‘(ii) the combined value of all invest-
ments of concern sold over the course of 
such additional calendar year, as measured 
by the fair market value of such invest-
ments at the time of the sale. 
‘‘(j) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) FOREIGN
COUNTRY
OF
CONCERN.—The 
term ‘foreign country of concern’ means the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(A) Any covered nation defined in section 
4872 of title 10, United States Code. 
‘‘(B) Any country the Secretary, in con-
sultation with the Secretary of Defense, the 
Secretary of State, and the Director of National 
Intelligence, determines, for purposes of this 
section, to be engaged in conduct that is detri-
mental to the national security or foreign policy 
of the United States. 
‘‘(2) FOREIGN
ENTITY
OF
CONCERN.—The 
term ‘foreign entity of concern’ has the meaning 
given such term in section 10612(a) of the Research 
and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act 
(42 U.S.C. 19221(a)) and includes a foreign entity 
that is identified on the list published under section 
1286(c)(8)(A) of the John S. McCain National De-
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fense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (10 
U.S.C. 22 4001 note; Public Law 115–232). 
‘‘(3) 
INSTITUTION.—The 
term 
‘institution’ 
means an institution of higher education (as such 
term is defined in section 102, other than an institu-
tion described in subsection (a)(1)(c) of such sec-
tion). 
‘‘(4) INVESTMENT OF CONCERN.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘investment 
of concern’ means any specified interest with 
respect to any of the following: 
‘‘(i) A foreign country of concern. 
‘‘(ii) A foreign entity of concern. 
‘‘(B) SPECIFIED
INTEREST.—The term 
‘specified interest’ means, with respect to any 
entity— 
‘‘(i) stock or any other equity or prof-
its interest of such entity; 
‘‘(ii) debt issued by such entity; and 
‘‘(iii) any contract or derivative with 
respect to any property described in clause 
(i) or (ii). 
‘‘(5) SPECIFIED INSTITUTION.— 
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‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘specified 
institution’, as determined with respect to any 
calendar year, means an institution if— 
‘‘(i) such institution is not a public in-
stitution; and 
‘‘(ii) the aggregate fair market value 
of— 
‘‘(I) the assets held by such insti-
tution at the end of such calendar 
year (other than those assets which 
are used directly in carrying out the 
institution’s exempt purpose) is in ex-
cess of $6,000,000,000; or 
‘‘(II) the investments of concern 
held by such institution at the end of 
such calendar year is in excess of 
$250,000,000. 
‘‘(B) REFERENCES TO CERTAIN TERMS.— 
For the purpose of applying the definition 
under subparagraph (A), the terms ‘aggregate 
fair market value’ and ‘assets which are used 
directly in carrying out the institution’s exempt 
purpose’ shall be applied in the same manner as 
such terms are applied for the purposes of sec-
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tion 4968(b)(1)(D) of the Internal Revenue 
Code of 1986.’’. 
(b) PROGRAM PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT.—Section 
487(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
1094) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(30)(A) An institution will comply with the re-
quirements of section 117A. 
‘‘(B) An institution that, for 3 consecutive in-
stitutional fiscal years, violates any requirement of 
section 117A shall— 
‘‘(i) be ineligible to participate in the pro-
grams authorized by this title for a period of 
not less than 2 institutional fiscal years; and 
‘‘(ii) in order to regain eligibility to partici-
pate in such programs, demonstrate compliance 
with all requirements of such section for not 
less than 2 institutional fiscal years after the 
institutional fiscal year in which such institu-
tion became ineligible.’’. 
Æ 
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