Title: PUBLIC Act
Policy area: Education

Summary:
Protecting Undergraduates with Board Limitations from Influence and Conflicts Act or the PUBLIC Act
This bill revises provisions related to the recognition of an accrediting agency or association to preclude potential conflicts of interest.
Specifically, if an accrediting agency or association has a voluntary membership of institutions of higher education (IHE) and has as its primary purpose the accrediting of IHEs, it must be separate and independent of certain trade associations, membership organizations, and IHEs.
To be separate and independent, members of the accrediting agency or association may not be (1) chosen by the board or chief executive of any related trade association or membership organization, or (2) individuals who exercise substantial control over specified IHEs. Further, there must be at least one public member for every three members of the board of the accrediting agency or association. Dues paid to the accrediting agency or association must be paid separately from any dues paid to a related trade association or membership organization, and the budget of the accrediting agency must be developed and determined without consulting any other entity or organization.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4653 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4653

   To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to prevent conflicts of 
                   interest on accreditation boards.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 11, 2019

Mrs. Lee of Nevada (for herself and Mr. Garcia of Illinois) introduced 
 the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education 
                               and Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to prevent conflicts of 
                   interest on accreditation boards.

    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 ``Protecting Undergraduates with Board 
Limitations from Influence and Conflicts Act'' or the ``PUBLIC Act''.

SEC. 2. SEPARATE AND INDEPENDENT DEFINED.

    Section 496 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1099b) 
is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(3)(A), by inserting before the 
        semicolon at the end the following: ``, and any institution 
        described in subsection (b)''; and
            (2) by striking subsection (b) and inserting:
    ``(b) Separate and Independent Defined.--For the purpose of 
subsection (a)(3), the term `separate and independent' means that--
            ``(1) the members of the postsecondary education governing 
        body and any other decision-making body of the accrediting 
        agency or association are not--
                    ``(A) elected or selected by the board or chief 
                executive officer of any related, associated, or 
                affiliated trade association or membership 
                organization; or
                    ``(B) individuals (such as executives and owners of 
                an institution) who exercise substantial control over 
                an institution--
                            ``(i) required to provide the Secretary 
                        with satisfactory evidence of its financial 
                        responsibility in accordance with paragraph 
                        (3)(A) of section 498(c) because the 
                        institution fails to meet criteria under 
                        paragraphs (1) and (2) of such section;
                            ``(ii) that the Secretary has placed on a 
                        reimbursement system of payment pursuant to 
                        section 487(c)(1)(B);
                            ``(iii) against which the Secretary has 
                        initiated an emergency action in accordance 
                        with section 487(c)(1)(G);
                            ``(iv) against which the Secretary has 
                        limited, suspended, or terminated the 
                        institution's participation in any program 
                        under this title in accordance with section 
                        487(c)(1)(F); or
                            ``(v) that has been placed on probation, 
                        show cause, or had its accreditation withdrawn;
            ``(2) among the membership of the board of the accrediting 
        agency or association there shall be 1 public member for each 3 
        members of the board, with a minimum of 1 such public member, 
        and guidelines are established for such members to avoid 
        conflicts of interest, including guidelines ensuring that each 
        such public member--
                    ``(A) is selected to serve on such board in the 
                same manner that other board members are selected for 
                such service;
                    ``(B) has not served on such board as a nonpublic 
                member in the preceding 10 years;
                    ``(C) is not (or has not been in the preceding 5-
                year period) a full-time employee of, or a member of 
                the governing board, an owner, or shareholder of, or 
                consultant to, an institution or program that--
                            ``(i) is accredited or preaccredited by the 
                        agency or association; or
                            ``(ii) has applied for accreditation or 
                        preaccreditation from such agency or 
                        association;
                    ``(D) is not a member of any trade association or 
                membership organization related to, affiliated with, or 
                associated with the agency or association or an 
                institution that is accredited by such agency or 
                association; and
                    ``(E) is not a spouse, parent, child, or sibling of 
                an individual identified in subparagraph (C) or (D);
            ``(3) dues to the accrediting agency or association are 
        paid separately from any dues paid to any related, associated, 
        or affiliated trade association or membership organization; and
            ``(4) the budget of the accrediting agency or association 
        is developed and determined by the accrediting agency or 
        association without review or resort to consultation with any 
        other entity or organization.''.
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