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. 
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 ‘‘Disclose Getting In-
volved in Foreign Transactions Act’’ or the ‘‘Disclose 
GIFT Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. POLICY REGARDING CONFLICTS OF INTEREST 
FROM FOREIGN GIFTS AND CONTRACTS. 
(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: 
‘‘SEC. 117A. INSTITUTIONAL POLICY REGARDING FOREIGN 
GIFTS AND CONTRACTS TO FACULTY AND 
STAFF. 
‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT TO MAINTAIN POLICY
AND 
DATABASE.—Beginning not later than 90 days after the 
date of the enactment of the Disclose GIFT Act, each in-
stitution described in subsection (b) shall maintain— 
‘‘(1) a policy requiring faculty, professional 
staff, and other staff engaged in research and devel-
opment (as determined by the institution and meas-
ured by the Higher Education Research and Devel-
opment Survey of the National Center for Science 
and Engineering Statistics) employed at the institu-
tion to disclose in a report to such institution on 
July 1 of each calendar year that begins after the 
year in which such enactment date occurs— 
‘‘(A) any gift received from a foreign 
source in the previous calendar year, the value 
of which is greater than the minimal value (as 
such term is defined in section 7342(a) of title 
5, United States Code) or is of undetermined 
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value, and including the date on which the gift 
was received; 
‘‘(B) any contract entered into with a for-
eign source in the previous calendar year, the 
value of which is $5,000 or more, considered 
alone or in combination with all other contracts 
with that foreign source within the calendar 
year, and including the date on which such con-
tract commences and, as applicable, the date on 
which such contract terminates; 
‘‘(C) any contract with a foreign source in 
force during the previous calendar year that has 
an undetermined monetary value, and including 
the date on which such contract commences 
and, as applicable, the date on which such con-
tract terminates; and 
‘‘(D) any contract entered into with a for-
eign country of concern or foreign entity of con-
cern in the previous calendar year, the value of 
which is $0 or more, and including the begin-
ning and ending dates of such contract and the 
full text of such contract and any addenda; 
‘‘(2) a publicly available and searchable data-
base (in electronic and downloadable format), on a 
website of the institution, of the information re-
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quired to be disclosed under paragraph (1), sortable 
and searchable by the date received (if a gift) or the 
date commenced (if a contract), the attributable 
country with respect to which information is being 
disclosed, and name of the individual making the 
disclosure, and until the latest of— 
‘‘(A) the date that is 4 years after the date 
on which— 
‘‘(i) a gift referred to in paragraph 
(1)(A) is received; or 
‘‘(ii) a contract referred to in sub-
paragraph (B), (C) or (D) of paragraph 
(1) begins; or 
‘‘(B) the date on which a contract referred 
to in subparagraph (B), (C) or (D) of para-
graph (1) terminates; and 
‘‘(3) a plan effectively to identify and manage 
potential information gathering by foreign sources 
through espionage targeting faculty, professional 
staff, and other staff engaged in research and devel-
opment (as determined by the institution and meas-
ured by the Higher Education Research and Devel-
opment Survey of the National Center for Science 
and Engineering Statistics) that may arise from 
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