HOUSE and SENATE

The House and Senate are both in recess and will return next week.

The Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS) Appropriations Subcommittee will mark up its Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 LHHS appropriations bill on Tuesday, September 10.

Rep. Susan Davis (D-CA) announced that she will retire at the end of her term in 2020. Rep. Davis is a high-ranking member of the House Education and Labor Committee and serves as Chair of the Higher Education and Workforce Investment Subcommittee.

ADMINISTRATION

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) released its final regulations on Borrower Defense to Repayment (BDR), Financial Responsibility and related issues. The regulations are expected to be published in the Federal Register in the coming days and will become effective on July 1, 2020.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a new report finding that ED has approved only 1 percent of applicants for the Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness program that was authorized by Congress in 2018.

ED announced that it will fine Michigan State University (MSU) $4.5 million and require the university to make changes to its Title IX procedures over its “systemic failure to protect students from sexual abuse” by ex-MSU doctor Larry Nassar.

The Federal Trade Commission fined YouTube $170 million for violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act by collecting personal information about children under 13 and using the information to target advertisements at the children without getting consent from their parents.

The Virginia Gloucester County School Board appealed a U.S. District Court judge’s ruling that its policy requiring transgender students to use private restrooms or bathrooms that correspond with their biological gender was unlawful. The District Court ruled that the school board’s policy violated transgender student Gavin Grimm’s rights under the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause as well as under Title IX.

EVENTS

Penn Hill plans to provide clients with summaries of the following events next week:

• September 10: House Financial Services Committee hearing on “A $1.5 Trillion Crisis: Protecting Student Borrowers and Holding Student Loan Servicers Accountable” at 10:00am
• September 11: House Education and Labor Subcommittee hearing on “The Importance of Trauma-Informed Practices in Education to Assist Students Impacted by Gun Violence and Other Adversities” at 10:15am

GRANT OPPORTUNITIES 

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