As a follow up to this summer’s hearing on foreign influence on campus, Education and the Workforce Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA) introduced the Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions (DETERRENT) Act (full legislative language / bill summary). The bill rewrites Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, which governs reporting on foreign gifts and contracts to institutions of higher education.
To revamp the reporting process, the bill requires institutions to report once a year on July 1, if it receives gifts from or engages in contracts with a foreign source. The bill lowers the reporting threshold from $250,000 to $50,000 in aggregate gifts or contracts from a foreign entity, and to $0 for countries of concern, which are defined as China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia. Institutions must request a waiver from the Department of Education to enter into a contract with an entity from any of these countries.
Institutional reports must disclose who on campus received the gift or contract, and what individual or entity provided the gift or contract. Institutions must also maintain copies of contracts in English and designate a compliance officer on campus responsible for foreign gift reporting.
The Secretary of Education will create a public searchable database of institutional reports, but names and addresses of foreign sources will not be disclosed or searchable under the Freedom of Information Act. However, the Secretary has the authority to share information with designated intelligence agencies.
In addition to Section 117 reporting, the bill requires institutions to have a policy that research staff report any gift from a foreign source of $100 or more, or any contract worth $5,000 or more and that this information be available publicly on the institution’s website.
The bill also requires that private institutions with endowments of $6 billion or more or with investments in countries of concern of $250 million or more report on such investments.
Penalties for noncompliance include investigations from the Secretary, fines, and after three consecutive years of violations, loss of Title IV eligibility.
There is bipartisan concern about foreign influence on campus, and there were multiple attempts to tighten the Section 117 reporting rules during the CHIPS and Science legislative debate last Congress that did not survive negotiations. The introduction of the DETERRENT Act in the Education Committee, which has jurisdiction over the reporting, could give this bill more legs in the 118th Congress.