(2) REFERRAL AND REPORTING IN THE HOUSE 
OF
REPRESENTATIVES.—Any committee of the 
House of Representatives to which a qualified bill is 
referred shall report it to the House not later than 
the 30th day after the date of its introduction. If a 
committee fails to report the bill within that period 
or the House has adopted a concurrent resolution 
providing for adjournment sine die at the end of a 
Congress, it shall be in order to move that the 
House discharge the committee from further consid-
eration of the bill. Such a motion shall be in order 
only at a time designated by the Speaker in the leg-
islative schedule within two legislative days after the 
day on which the proponent announces his intention 
to offer the motion. Such a motion shall not be in 
order after a committee has reported a qualified bill. 
The previous question shall be considered as ordered 
on the motion to its adoption without intervening 
motion except twenty minutes of debate equally di-
vided and controlled by the proponent and an oppo-
nent. If such a motion is adopted, the House shall 
proceed immediately to consider the qualified bill. 
(e) TERMINATION.—The Task Force shall terminate 
60 calendar days after the date on which the Task Force 
submits the report under subsection (c)(3). 
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SEC. 9. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS REGARDING USE BY 
STATES OF THE FEDERAL PLAN AS GUIDE-
LINES. 
It is the sense of the Congress that— 
(1) each State should implement a strategic di-
ploma integrity plan similar to any such plan en-
acted by Congress in accordance with section 8, to 
the extent practicable and as soon as practicable 
after the date of the enactment of such a plan under 
such section; and 
(2) States may adopt more stringent standards 
than those standards contained in the Federal stra-
tegic diploma integrity plan and used by agencies of 
the United States to identify fraudulent degree- 
granting institutions operating within such State, 
except that State law does not preempt Federal law 
as applied to the employment and hiring practices of 
Federal employees working in such State. 
SEC. 10. UNFAIR AND DECEPTIVE ACTS AND PRACTICES 
REGARDING DIPLOMAS AND PROFESSIONAL 
CERTIFICATIONS. 
(a) CONDUCT PROHIBITED.—Not later than 180 
days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal 
Trade Commission shall initiate a rulemaking to define 
as an unfair and deceptive act or practice under section 
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18 of Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57a) the 
following: 
(1) The issuing of a degree, diploma, certificate, 
or any similar document by an entity that is not rec-
ognized as a legitimate degree-granting institution 
by the Secretary of Education, if such degree, di-
ploma, certificate, or similar document misrepre-
sents, directly or indirectly, the subject matter, sub-
stance, or content of the course of study or any 
other material fact concerning the course of study 
for which such degree, diploma, certificate, or simi-
lar document was awarded. 
(2) The offering or conferring of an academic, 
professional, or occupational degree if the entity of-
fering or conferring the degree— 
(A) is not an institution of higher edu-
cation; 
(B) has not been accredited by an accred-
iting agency or association that is recognized 
for any purpose by any appropriate Federal 
agency, or by the Council for Higher Education 
Accreditation; or 
(C) is not recognized by the Secretary of 
Education as an eligible institution under sec-
tion 4(a)(2), 
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unless the entity offering or conferring such a de-
gree clearly and conspicuously discloses, in all adver-
tising and promotional materials that contain a ref-
erence to such a degree, that the awarding of the de-
gree has not been so authorized or that the entity 
offering or conferring the degree has not been so ap-
proved or recognized. 
(3) The claiming or asserting in any advertise-
ments or promotional material of an entity offering 
or conferring an academic, professional, or occupa-
tional degree, that such entity has— 
(A) an accredited status unless it holds ac-
creditation from an accrediting agency that is 
recognized by the Secretary of Education or the 
Council for Higher Education Accreditation, or 
is recognized for any purpose by any appro-
priate Federal agency or, for foreign sources of 
accreditation, unless it holds accreditation from 
an accrediting agency that is recognized by the 
appropriate agency or ministry of jurisdiction in 
the country of the accrediting agency; or 
(B) an unaccredited, but approved status 
that misrepresents, directly or indirectly, the 
nature, extent, or credibility of such approval. 
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(4) The issuing of any accreditation, including 
institutional, programmatic, or specialized accredita-
tion, to any degree-granting institution by any entity 
that is not recognized for accreditation purposes by 
the Secretary of Education, any other appropriate 
Federal agency, or the Council for Higher Education 
Accreditation, or, for foreign accreditors, any entity 
that is not recognized for accreditation purposes by 
the appropriate agency or ministry of jurisdiction in 
the country of the accrediting agency. 
(b) GUIDELINES FOR LEGITIMATE DEGREE-GRANT-
ING INSTITUTION.—For purposes of defining a legitimate 
degree-granting institution in the rule required under sub-
section (a), the Federal Trade Commission shall adopt the 
guidelines developed by the Task Force and submitted in 
its report to Congress as required by section 8(c). 
(c) FINAL RULE.—The Commission shall issue final 
rules under this section not later than 90 days after the 
Task Force submits its final report containing such guide-
lines to Congress pursuant to section 8(c)(3). 
(d) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.— 
(1) FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION.—In admin-
istering and enforcing the rule required under sub-
section (a), the Federal Trade Commission shall re-
port regularly to the Secretary of Education any in-
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formation regarding entities which the Commission 
knows or suspects to be in violation of such rule. 
(2) SECRETARY
OF
EDUCATION.—The Sec-
retary of Education shall make available to the gen-
eral public, in paper and electronic forms, the infor-
mation reported to the Secretary in accordance with 
paragraph (1). 
SEC. 11. STUDY. 
(a) STUDY.—The Comptroller General shall conduct 
a study to gather the following information: 
(1) A determination of the numbers and types 
of degree-granting institutions that are enrolling stu-
dents or otherwise operating within the United 
States as of the date of the enactment of this Act 
that are not accredited by an accrediting agency or 
association recognized by the Secretary of Education 
under section 496 of the Higher Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1099b) that— 
(A) are legitimate degree-granting institu-
tions; and 
(B) are fraudulent degree-granting institu-
tions. 
(2) An analysis of why legitimate degree-grant-
ing institutions do not obtain accreditation by an ac-
crediting agency or association described in para-
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graph (1), and specifically why some such institu-
tions voluntarily elect not to obtain such accredita-
tion. 
(3) An analysis of any steps taken by the De-
partment of Education to repair the vulnerabilities 
in the Federal Family Education Loan Program re-
vealed by the Office of Special Investigations of the 
Government Accountability Office, as reported to the 
Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness of 
the Committee on Education and the Workforce of 
the House of Representatives on September 23, 
2004. 
(b) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 
of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall 
submit to the Diploma Mill Task Force established under 
section 8 a report on the study conducted under subsection 
(a) together with recommendations for such legislation 
and administrative action as the Comptroller General de-
termines to be appropriate. 
Æ 
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