| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 1391 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide restoration of entitlement |
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| 6 | 6 | | to educational assistance to individuals defrauded by educational institu- |
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| 7 | 7 | | tions receiving payment on behalf of such individuals under the laws |
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| 8 | 8 | | administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and to provide repay- |
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| 9 | 9 | | ment of funds to the Secretary from such educational institutions, and |
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| 10 | 10 | | for other purposes. |
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| 11 | 11 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 12 | 12 | | FEBRUARY14, 2025 |
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| 13 | 13 | | Mrs. R |
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| 14 | 14 | | AMIREZ(for herself, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. LEVIN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. |
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| 15 | 15 | | B |
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| 16 | 16 | | UDZINSKI, Mr. GARCI´Aof Illinois, Mr. FROST, and Mr. GRIJALVA) in- |
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| 17 | 17 | | troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Vet- |
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| 18 | 18 | | erans’ Affairs |
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| 19 | 19 | | A BILL |
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| 20 | 20 | | To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide restoration |
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| 21 | 21 | | of entitlement to educational assistance to individuals |
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| 22 | 22 | | defrauded by educational institutions receiving payment |
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| 23 | 23 | | on behalf of such individuals under the laws administered |
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| 24 | 24 | | by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and to provide |
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| 25 | 25 | | repayment of funds to the Secretary from such edu- |
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| 26 | 26 | | cational institutions, and for other purposes. |
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| 27 | 27 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 28 | 28 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 30 | 30 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 31 | 31 | | •HR 1391 IH |
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| 32 | 32 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 |
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| 33 | 33 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Student Veteran Ben-2 |
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| 34 | 34 | | efit Restoration Act of 2025’’. 3 |
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| 35 | 35 | | SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS FOR EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 4 |
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| 36 | 36 | | THAT RECEIVE EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE 5 |
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| 37 | 37 | | FROM PROGRAMS ADMINISTERED BY THE 6 |
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| 38 | 38 | | SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 7 |
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| 39 | 39 | | (a) I |
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| 40 | 40 | | NGENERAL.—Subchapter III of chapter 36 of 8 |
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| 41 | 41 | | title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 9 |
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| 42 | 42 | | end the following new section: 10 |
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| 43 | 43 | | ‘‘§ 3699C. Restoration of entitlement for pursuit of 11 |
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| 44 | 44 | | courses or programs of education at cer-12 |
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| 45 | 45 | | tain educational institutions 13 |
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| 46 | 46 | | ‘‘(a) R |
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| 47 | 47 | | ESTORATION OF ENTITLEMENT.—The Sec-14 |
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| 48 | 48 | | retary shall determine that any payment of covered edu-15 |
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| 49 | 49 | | cational assistance for the pursuit by a covered individual 16 |
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| 50 | 50 | | of a course or program of education at an educational in-17 |
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| 51 | 51 | | stitution occurring during a period set forth under sub-18 |
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| 52 | 52 | | section (b) is not— 19 |
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| 53 | 53 | | ‘‘(1) charged against any entitlement of the 20 |
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| 54 | 54 | | covered individual to the covered educational assist-21 |
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| 55 | 55 | | ance; or 22 |
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| 56 | 56 | | ‘‘(2) counted against the aggregate period for 23 |
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| 57 | 57 | | which section 3695 of this title limits the receipt of 24 |
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| 58 | 58 | | educational assistance by the covered individual. 25 |
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| 61 | 61 | | •HR 1391 IH |
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| 62 | 62 | | ‘‘(b) COVEREDPERIODS.—A period set forth under 1 |
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| 63 | 63 | | this subsection with respect to a course or program of edu-2 |
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| 64 | 64 | | cation pursued by a covered individual at an educational 3 |
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| 65 | 65 | | institution is any of the following: 4 |
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| 66 | 66 | | ‘‘(1) Any period, occurring on or after the date 5 |
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| 67 | 67 | | of enactment of the Student Veteran Benefit Res-6 |
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| 68 | 68 | | toration Act of 2025, in which the educational insti-7 |
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| 69 | 69 | | tution was not approved by a State approving agen-8 |
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| 70 | 70 | | cy or the Secretary acting as a State approving 9 |
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| 71 | 71 | | agency, including periods in which an educational in-10 |
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| 72 | 72 | | stitution is not approved because an approval is re-11 |
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| 73 | 73 | | voked. 12 |
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| 74 | 74 | | ‘‘(2) Any period, occurring on or after the date 13 |
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| 75 | 75 | | of enactment of the Student Veteran Benefit Res-14 |
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| 76 | 76 | | toration Act of 2025, with regards to which the Sec-15 |
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| 77 | 77 | | retary has made a final determination that the edu-16 |
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| 78 | 78 | | cational institution, or the owner of the educational 17 |
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| 79 | 79 | | institution, was in violation during such period of an 18 |
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| 80 | 80 | | applicable provision of section 3696 of this title. 19 |
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| 81 | 81 | | ‘‘(3) Any period, occurring on or after the date 20 |
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| 82 | 82 | | of enactment of the Student Veteran Benefit Res-21 |
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| 83 | 83 | | toration Act of 2025, during which a court of com-22 |
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| 84 | 84 | | petent jurisdiction found the educational institution 23 |
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| 85 | 85 | | guilty of, or liable for, fraud. 24 |
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| 87 | 87 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 |
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| 88 | 88 | | •HR 1391 IH |
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| 89 | 89 | | ‘‘(4) Any period, occurring on or after the date 1 |
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| 90 | 90 | | of enactment of the Student Veteran Benefit Res-2 |
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| 91 | 91 | | toration Act of 2025, during which the educational 3 |
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| 92 | 92 | | institution was closed by the Department of Justice 4 |
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| 93 | 93 | | on the basis of fraud or a violation of a provision of 5 |
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| 94 | 94 | | Federal or State law. 6 |
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| 95 | 95 | | ‘‘(5) Any period occurring on or after the date 7 |
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| 96 | 96 | | of enactment of the Student Veteran Benefit Res-8 |
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| 97 | 97 | | toration Act of 2025— 9 |
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| 98 | 98 | | ‘‘(A) during which the educational institu-10 |
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| 99 | 99 | | tion engaged in fraud; and 11 |
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| 100 | 100 | | ‘‘(B) after which the educational institu-12 |
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| 101 | 101 | | tion closes. 13 |
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| 102 | 102 | | ‘‘(c) R |
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| 103 | 103 | | EPAYMENT OFFUNDS.—(1) As a condition of 14 |
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| 104 | 104 | | the approval of a course or program of education under 15 |
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| 105 | 105 | | this chapter, the educational institution offering the 16 |
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| 106 | 106 | | course or program shall agree that if the educational insti-17 |
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| 107 | 107 | | tution receives payment of covered educational assistance 18 |
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| 108 | 108 | | for a covered individual to pursue a course or program 19 |
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| 109 | 109 | | of education at the educational institution and the Sec-20 |
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| 110 | 110 | | retary, pursuant to subsection (a), restores to such cov-21 |
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| 111 | 111 | | ered individual some portion of the entitlement of the cov-22 |
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| 112 | 112 | | ered individual to such covered educational assistance, the 23 |
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| 113 | 113 | | educational institution shall repay to the Secretary the 24 |
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| 114 | 114 | | amount of that portion of the covered educational assist-25 |
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| 117 | 117 | | •HR 1391 IH |
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| 118 | 118 | | ance that the educational institution received for that indi-1 |
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| 119 | 119 | | vidual. 2 |
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| 120 | 120 | | ‘‘(2) In the case of an educational institution that has 3 |
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| 121 | 121 | | been found guilty of, or liable for, fraud by a court of com-4 |
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| 122 | 122 | | petent jurisdiction and is ordered to pay financial relief 5 |
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| 123 | 123 | | to the Federal Government, the Secretary may file a claim 6 |
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| 124 | 124 | | with the Department of the Treasury for recoupment of 7 |
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| 125 | 125 | | all amounts of educational assistance received by such 8 |
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| 126 | 126 | | educational institution pursuant to the educational assist-9 |
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| 127 | 127 | | ance programs administered by the Secretary that the 10 |
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| 128 | 128 | | Secretary determines were obtained through such fraud. 11 |
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| 129 | 129 | | ‘‘(d) A |
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| 130 | 130 | | PPEALS.—(1) The Secretary shall establish a 12 |
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| 131 | 131 | | process by which an educational institution or the owner 13 |
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| 132 | 132 | | of an educational institution that is subject to a finding 14 |
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| 133 | 133 | | by the Secretary that the educational institution is re-15 |
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| 134 | 134 | | quired to repay an amount under subsection (c) may re-16 |
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| 135 | 135 | | quest a review of such finding. 17 |
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| 136 | 136 | | ‘‘(2) The process established pursuant to paragraph 18 |
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| 137 | 137 | | (1) shall be distinct and separate from the process estab-19 |
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| 138 | 138 | | lished under section 3696(i) of this title. 20 |
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| 139 | 139 | | ‘‘(e) D |
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| 140 | 140 | | EFINITIONS.—In this section: 21 |
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| 141 | 141 | | ‘‘(1) The term ‘covered educational assistance’ 22 |
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| 142 | 142 | | means educational assistance under chapter 30, 31, 23 |
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| 143 | 143 | | 32, 33, or 35 of this title, or chapter 1606 or 1607 24 |
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| 144 | 144 | | of title 10. 25 |
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| 147 | 147 | | •HR 1391 IH |
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| 148 | 148 | | ‘‘(2) The term ‘covered individual’ means a vet-1 |
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| 149 | 149 | | eran or other individual using covered educational 2 |
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| 150 | 150 | | assistance to pursue a course or program of edu-3 |
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| 151 | 151 | | cation that has been approved under this chapter. 4 |
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| 152 | 152 | | ‘‘(3) The term ‘fraud’ means fraud or another 5 |
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| 153 | 153 | | false, misleading, or deceptive act or omission.’’. 6 |
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| 154 | 154 | | (b) C |
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| 155 | 155 | | LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 7 |
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| 156 | 156 | | at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting 8 |
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| 157 | 157 | | after the item relating to section 3699B the following new 9 |
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| 158 | 158 | | item: 10 |
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| 159 | 159 | | ‘‘3699C. Restoration of entitlement for pursuit of courses or programs of edu- |
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| 160 | 160 | | cation at certain educational institutions.’’. |
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| 161 | 161 | | Æ |
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