INSTRUCT Act of 2025

Bill: 119-hr-1018
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Messmer, Mark [R-IN-8]
Introduced: 2025-02-05
Policy area: Education
Subjects: Congressional oversight

Education programs funding

Government information and archives

Government studies and investigations

Higher education
Latest action: action_date: 2025-02-05
text: Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.

Summaries:
action_date: 2025-02-05
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><strong>Instructing Noteworthy Steps toward Transparency to Rout and Undo Calamitous Transactions Act of 2025 or the INSTRUCT Act of 2025</strong></p><p>This bill requires the Department of Education (ED) to share foreign gift and contract reports from institutions of higher education (IHEs) with specified federal agencies.</p><p>Under current law, an IHE must disclose to ED a gift from or contract with a foreign source that is valued at $250,000 or more, considered alone or in combination with all other gifts from or contracts with that foreign source. This bill requires ED, within 30 days of receiving a disclosure report from an&nbsp;IHE, to transmit an&nbsp;unredacted copy of the report to 11 listed agencies (e.g., the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of State, and the Department of Homeland Security).</p><p>The bill also requires ED, within 90 days of the bill's enactment, to transmit additional information to these federal agencies. Specifically, ED must transmit (1) any disclosure report received by ED prior to the bill's enactment; and (2) any report, document, or other record generated by ED in the course of investigating an IHE's compliance with disclosure requirements&nbsp;(and such investigation was initiated prior to the bill's enactment).&nbsp;</p><p>The Government Accountability Office must study and report on ways to improve intergovernmental agency coordination for implementing and enforcing disclosure reporting requirements.</p>

tv_txt: I 119th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 1018 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES February 5, 2025 Mr. Messmer introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce A BILL To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require additional information in disclosures of foreign gifts and contracts from foreign sources.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Instructing Noteworthy Steps toward Transparency to Rout and Undo Calamitous Transactions Act of 2025 or the INSTRUCT Act of 2025 . 2. Interagency information sharing (a) Public records and sharing of reports Section 117(e) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1011f(e) ) is amended to read as follows: (e) (1) Public inspection All disclosure reports required by this section shall be public records open to inspection and copying during business hours. (2) Interagency information sharing Not later than 30 days after receiving a disclosure report from an institution in compliance with this section, the Secretary shall transmit an unredacted copy of such report (that includes the name and address of a foreign source disclosed in such report) to the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Director of National Intelligence, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Secretary of Energy, the Director of the National Science Foundation, and the Director of the National Institutes of Health. . (b) Interagency information sharing Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Education shall transmit to each individual listed in section 117(e)(2) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended by this Act— (1) any report received by the Department of Education under section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1011f ) prior to the date of enactment of this Act; and (2) any report, document, or other record generated by the Department of Education in the course of an investigation— (A) of an institution with respect to the compliance of such institution with such section; and (B) initiated prior to the date of enactment of this Act. (c) GAO Study and Report (1) Study Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall initiate a study to identify ways to improve intergovernmental agency coordination regarding implementation and enforcement of sections 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1011f ), as amended by this Act, including increasing information sharing, increasing compliance rates, and establishing processes for enforcement. (2) Report Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to Congress, and make public, a report containing the results of the study described in paragraph (1) .