Court Legal Access and Student Support (CLASS) Act of 2019

Bill: 116-s-608
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Durbin, Richard J. [D-IL]
Introduced: 2019-02-28
Policy area: Education
Subjects: Alternative dispute resolution, mediation, arbitration

Civil actions and liability

Higher education

Student aid and college costs
Latest action: action_date: 2019-02-28
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Summaries:
action_date: 2019-02-28
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><b>Court Legal Access and Student Support (CLASS) Act of 2019</b></p> <p>This bill forbids institutions of higher education (IHEs) that participate in federal student aid programs from restricting students' ability to pursue claims against IHEs in court. In addition, the bill makes mandatory arbitration agreements inapplicable to enrollment agreements between students and IHEs.

tv_txt: II 116th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 608 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES February 28, 2019 Mr. Durbin (for himself, Mr. Whitehouse , Ms. Warren , Mr. Reed , Mr. Brown , Mr. Blumenthal , Ms. Hirono , and Mr. Markey ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To provide that chapter 1 of title 9 of the United States Code, relating to the enforcement of arbitration agreements, shall not apply to enrollment agreements made between students and certain institutions of higher education, and to prohibit limitations on the ability of students to pursue claims against certain institutions of higher education.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Court Legal Access and Student Support (CLASS) Act of 2019 . 2. Inapplicability of chapter 1 of title 9, United States Code, to enrollment agreements made between students and certain institutions of higher education (a) In General Chapter 1 of title 9 of the United States Code (relating to the enforcement of arbitration agreements) shall not apply to an enrollment agreement made between a student and an institution of higher education. (b) Definition In this section, the term institution of higher education has the meaning given such term in section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1002 ). 3. Prohibition on limitations on ability of students to pursue claims against certain institutions of higher education Section 487(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1094(a) ) is amended by adding at the end the following: (30) The institution will not require any student to agree to, and will not enforce, any limitation or restriction (including a limitation or restriction on any available choice of applicable law, a jury trial, or venue) on the ability of a student to pursue a claim, individually or with others, against an institution in court. . 4. Effective date This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall take effect 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act.