July 22, 2016

Compiled by Penn Hill Group

HOUSE and SENATE

The House and Senate will be in recess until after the September 5^th Labor Day Holiday.

ADMINISTRATION

The White House announced its Advanced Wireless Research Initiative. This new program will enable the deployment and use of four city-scale testing platforms for advanced wireless research over the next decade.

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) released the Final Regulations that govern the Equity Assistance Centers (EAC) program. These regulations update applicable definitions; remove the existing selection criteria; and provide the Secretary with the flexibility to determine the number and composition of geographic regions for the EAC program.

ED announced a final priority focused on increasing socioeconomic diversity to be used for competitions in fiscal year 2016 and later years under the EAC program.

ED outlined a series of currently implemented and enhanced servicing standards that will guide the future of federal student loan servicing practices. The standards give direction in five areas: economic incentive; accurate and actionable information; consistency; accountability and; transparency. ED expects to fully implement these standards as part of the forthcoming structural changes to the loan servicing contracts awarded by the Department.

ED released a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on state authorization of distance education programs related to higher education. The official publication in the Federal Register for this NPRM is expected on Monday (July 25), and there will be a 30-day comment period.

Julius Lloyd Horwich, of Illinois, was confirmed as Assistant Secretary for Legislation and Congressional Affairs of ED on July 14, 2016 by the Senate by a Voice Vote.

GRANT OPPORTUNITIES 

Penn Hill Group provides a list of grant opportunities and summaries for select grants. Please visit our website for more information.