A roundup of bills introduced in the last week that may be of interest to the higher education community:
S. 406: The “Students First Act” – a bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide for new program review requirements. The bill is designed to go after ‘bad actors’ in higher education – those that use tax dollars to aggressively market to vulnerable students in potentially illegal ways.
Sponsor: Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) Introduced: 2/28/2013 Last Major Action: Referred to Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Cosponsors: 3
Link to Lautenberg Press Release
S. 424: A bill to amend Title IV of the Public Health Service Act to provide for a National Pediatric Research Network, including with respect to pediatric rare diseases or conditions. The bill would authorize the Director of the NIH to award grants to create up to 8 research centers.
Sponsor: Sherrod Brown (D-OH) Introduced: 2/28/2013 Last Major Action: Referred to Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Cosponsors: 6
S. 426: A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for the participation of particular specialists determined by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to be directly related to the health needs stemming from environmental health hazards that have led to its declaration as a Public Health Emergency to be eligible under the National Health Service Corps in the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program.
Sponsor: Jon Tester (D-MT) Introduced: 2/28/2013 Last Major Action: Referred to Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Link to Baucus Press Release
S. 433: A bill to establish and operate a National Center for Campus Public Safety
Sponsor: Mark Warner (D-VA) Introduced: 2/28/2013 Last Major Action: Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee Cosponsors: 1
H.R. 891: A bill to establish a grant program in the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection to fund the establishment of centers of excellence to support research, development and planning, implementation, and evaluation of effective programs in financial literacy education for young people and families ages 8 through 24 years old.
Sponsor: Andre Carson (D-IN) Introduced: 2/28/2013 Last Major Action: Referred to House Committees on Financial Services and Education & the Workforce
Cosponsors: 0
H.R. 920: A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for the participation of optometrists in the National Health Service Corps Scholarship and Loan Repayment Programs.
Sponsor: Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) Introduced: 2/28/2013 Last Major Action: Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce Cosponsors: 7
The full text of these bills can be found by searching for their respective bill number at thomas.loc.gov