Title: Common Sense Opportunities Act
Policy area: Education

Summary:
Common Sense Opportunities Act
This bill amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require the Department of Education (ED) to inform each entity operating programs under the federal TRIO programs (programs designed to identify and provide services for students from disadvantaged backgrounds) of the status of their application for continued funding at least four months (currently eight) prior to the expiration of the funding.
The bill establishes a process for applicants to resubmit an application for a grant or contract for higher education resources or student assistance when the application contains a technical error. The bill prohibits ED from rejecting an application solely because it contains a technical error, unless ED notifies the applicant of the error and the applicant does not correct it by the resubmission deadline.
ED must submit an annual report that: (1) identifies each entity that received a grant or contract for higher education resources or student assistance and indicates the amount of the grant or contract; and (2) identifies each entity that applied for, but did not receive, such grant or contract and indicates the reason for the rejection of the application. ED must set forth the information separately for each state and local educational agency in the report.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3784 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3784

 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to clarify the treatment of 
  technical errors in applications for Federal TRIO programs, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 14, 2017

    Mr. Davidson (for himself, Mr. Danny K. Davis of Illinois, Mr. 
 Poliquin, and Mr. Espaillat) introduced the following bill; which was 
        referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to clarify the treatment of 
  technical errors in applications for Federal TRIO programs, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Common Sense Opportunities Act''.

SEC. 2. APPLICATION STATUS.

    Section 402A(c)(7) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
1070a-11(c)(7)) is amended by striking ``8 months'' each place it 
appears and inserting ``4 months''.

SEC. 3. TREATMENT OF TECHNICAL ERRORS IN APPLICATIONS.

    Section 402A(c)(8) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
1070a-11(c)(8)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(D) Treatment of technical errors in 
                applications.--
                            ``(i) In general.--Except as provided in 
                        clause (ii), the Secretary may not reject an 
                        application for a grant or contract under this 
                        chapter solely because such application 
                        contains a technical error.
                            ``(ii) Exception.--The Secretary may reject 
                        an application for a grant or contract under 
                        this chapter solely because such application 
                        contains a technical error only if--
                                    ``(I) the Secretary provides notice 
                                of the technical error by email and 
                                phone to the primary contact person, 
                                authorized representative, and project 
                                director identified in the application 
                                and, as part of such notice, 
                                specifically identifies the technical 
                                error in the text of the application;
                                    ``(II) during a period of not fewer 
                                than 7 business days after providing 
                                notice to the applicant under subclause 
                                (I), and in accordance with clause 
                                (iii), the Secretary allows the 
                                applicant to submit a revised 
                                application that corrects the technical 
                                error identified in such notice; and
                                    ``(III) the applicant--
                                            ``(aa) does not submit to 
                                        the Secretary a revised 
                                        application that corrects the 
                                        technical error identified in 
                                        the notice under subclause (I) 
                                        before the expiration of the 
                                        period described in subclause 
                                        (II); or
                                            ``(bb) submits to the 
                                        Secretary a revised application 
                                        that contains a new technical 
                                        error or does not correct the 
                                        technical error identified in 
                                        the notice under subclause (I).
                            ``(iii) Treatment of revised 
                        applications.--The Secretary shall treat a 
                        revised application submitted under clause 
                        (ii)(II) in the same manner as a timely 
                        submitted application that did not contain the 
                        technical error corrected in such revised 
                        application. The peer review score of a revised 
                        application submitted under clause (ii)(II) 
                        shall not be reviewable by any officer or 
                        employee of the Department of Education other 
                        than the Secretary.
                            ``(iv) Technical error defined.--In this 
                        subparagraph, the term `technical error' means 
                        a nonsubstantive error in an application, 
                        including an error in formatting, spacing, 
                        number of pages, font size or style, and an 
                        error in rounding or any other typographical 
                        error in a proposed budget.''.

SEC. 4. REPORTS TO CONGRESS.

    Section 402H(a)(1) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
1070a-18(a)(1)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (D), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in subparagraph (E), by striking the period at the end; 
        and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(F) identify each entity that received a grant or 
                contract under this chapter during the period covered 
                by the report and indicate the dollar amount of each 
                such grant or contract;
                    ``(G) identify each entity that applied for, but 
                did not receive, a grant or contract under this chapter 
                during the period covered by the report and indicate 
                the reason that the entity did not receive the grant or 
                contract for which it applied; and
                    ``(H) set forth the information described in 
                subparagraphs (F) and (G) separately for each State and 
                local educational agency concerned.''.
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