Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB1253 Compare Versions

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11 II
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION S. 1253
55 To establish the Office of the Special Inspector General for Unlawful
66 Discrimination in Higher Education within the Department of Education.
77 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
88 APRIL2, 2025
99 Mr. B
1010 ANKS(for himself and Mr. BUDD) introduced the following bill; which
1111 was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education,
1212 Labor, and Pensions
1313 A BILL
1414 To establish the Office of the Special Inspector General
1515 for Unlawful Discrimination in Higher Education within
1616 the Department of Education.
1717 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
1818 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
1919 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
2020 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘College Admissions Ac-4
2121 countability Act of 2025’’. 5
2222 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
2323 Congress makes the following findings: 7
2424 (1) 21st century elite college admissions func-8
2525 tions as the Nation’s sorting machine for prestige 9
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2929 and opportunity, allocating a limited number of valu-1
3030 able credentials. 2
3131 (2) For decades United States colleges and uni-3
3232 versities adopted admissions and policies practices 4
3333 that rendered special preferences to applicants on 5
3434 the basis of race. 6
3535 (3) In Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. 7
3636 President and Fellows of Harvard College, 143 S. 8
3737 Ct. 2141 (2023), the Supreme Court of the United 9
3838 States found race-based admissions policies to be in 10
3939 violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th 11
4040 Amendment to the Constitution of the United 12
4141 States. The Court further held that ‘‘universities 13
4242 may not simply establish through application essays 14
4343 or other means the regime we hold unlawful today’’. 15
4444 (4) Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 16
4545 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.) prohibits entities that receive 17
4646 Federal funding from discriminating based on race. 18
4747 (5) Following the Court’s ruling in Students for 19
4848 Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of 20
4949 Harvard College, several United States colleges and 21
5050 universities issued statements or unveiled new poli-22
5151 cies at odds with the letter and spirit of that ruling. 23
5252 (6) Institutions of higher education, including 24
5353 their offices of admission, must comply with the 25
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5757 Constitution and laws of the United States, as inter-1
5858 preted by the judiciary. 2
5959 (7) It is the duty of the United States Govern-3
6060 ment to protect the civil rights of its citizens and to 4
6161 enforce the Constitution and laws of the United 5
6262 States, as interpreted by the judiciary. 6
6363 SEC. 3. SPECIAL INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR UNLAWFUL 7
6464 DISCRIMINATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION. 8
6565 (a) I
6666 NGENERAL.—Title II of the Department of 9
6767 Education Organization Act (20 U.S.C. 3411 et seq.) is 10
6868 amended by adding at the end the following: 11
6969 ‘‘SEC. 221. SPECIAL INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR UNLAWFUL 12
7070 DISCRIMINATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION. 13
7171 ‘‘(a) D
7272 EFINITIONS.—In this section: 14
7373 ‘‘(1) A
7474 PPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON -15
7575 GRESS.—The term ‘appropriate committees of Con-16
7676 gress’ means— 17
7777 ‘‘(A) the Committee on Health, Education, 18
7878 Labor, and Pensions of the Senate; 19
7979 ‘‘(B) the Subcommittee on Labor, Health 20
8080 and Human Services, Education, and Related 21
8181 Agencies of the Committee on Appropriations of 22
8282 the Senate; 23
8383 ‘‘(C) the Committee on Education and 24
8484 Workforce of the House of Representatives; and 25
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8888 ‘‘(D) the Subcommittee on Labor, Health 1
8989 and Human Services, Education, and Related 2
9090 Agencies of the Committee on Appropriations of 3
9191 the House of Representatives. 4
9292 ‘‘(2) C
9393 OVERED INDIVIDUAL .—The term ‘cov-5
9494 ered individual’ means any individual who— 6
9595 ‘‘(A) files an application for admission as 7
9696 a student at a covered institution; or 8
9797 ‘‘(B) is enrolled as a student at a covered 9
9898 institution. 10
9999 ‘‘(3) C
100100 OVERED INSTITUTION .—The term ‘cov-11
101101 ered institution’ means an institution of higher edu-12
102102 cation that receives funds from Federal student as-13
103103 sistance or Federal institutional aid under the High-14
104104 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.). 15
105105 ‘‘(b) O
106106 FFICE OFINSPECTORGENERAL.—There is 16
107107 hereby established within the Department the Office of the 17
108108 Special Inspector General for Unlawful Discrimination in 18
109109 Higher Education. 19
110110 ‘‘(c) A
111111 PPOINTMENT OF INSPECTORGENERAL; RE-20
112112 MOVAL; BASICPAY.— 21
113113 ‘‘(1) I
114114 N GENERAL.—The head of the Office of 22
115115 the Special Inspector General for Unlawful Discrimi-23
116116 nation in Higher Education shall be the Special In-24
117117 spector General for Unlawful Discrimination in 25
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121121 Higher Education (referred to in this section as the 1
122122 ‘Special Inspector General’), who shall be appointed 2
123123 by the President, by and with the advice and consent 3
124124 of the Senate. 4
125125 ‘‘(2) N
126126 OMINATION.—The nomination of the 5
127127 Special Inspector General shall be made on the basis 6
128128 of integrity and demonstrated familiarity with higher 7
129129 education and admissions, in addition to expertise in 8
130130 auditing, civil rights, law, academic administration, 9
131131 education regulation, or investigations. 10
132132 ‘‘(3) R
133133 EMOVAL.—The Special Inspector General 11
134134 shall be removable from office in accordance with 12
135135 the provisions of section 403(b) of title 5, United 13
136136 States Code. 14
137137 ‘‘(4) B
138138 ASIC PAY.—The annual rate of basic pay 15
139139 of the Special Inspector General shall be the annual 16
140140 rate of basic pay for an Inspector General under sec-17
141141 tion 403(e) of title 5, United States Code. 18
142142 ‘‘(d) D
143143 UTIES.— 19
144144 ‘‘(1) I
145145 N GENERAL.—It shall be the duty of the 20
146146 Special Inspector General to, in accordance with sec-21
147147 tion 404(b)(1) of title 5, United States Code— 22
148148 ‘‘(A) receive, review, and investigate allega-23
149149 tions from covered individuals or employees of 24
150150 covered institutions of admissions decisions, 25
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154154 policies, or practices, or financial aid determina-1
155155 tions or academic programs, that are in viola-2
156156 tion of— 3
157157 ‘‘(i) the Equal Protection Clause of 4
158158 the 14th Amendment to the Constitution 5
159159 of the United States, pursuant to the hold-6
160160 ing in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. 7
161161 v. President and Fellows of Harvard Col-8
162162 lege, 143 S. Ct. 2141 (2023) (referred to 9
163163 in this subsection as the ‘Equal Protection 10
164164 Clause’); or 11
165165 ‘‘(ii) title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 12
166166 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.) (referred 13
167167 to in this subsection as ‘title VI’); 14
168168 ‘‘(B) review any Federal policies and pro-15
169169 grams that have the effect of incentivizing cov-16
170170 ered institutions to violate the Equal Protection 17
171171 Clause or title VI; and 18
172172 ‘‘(C) make recommendations to the appli-19
173173 cable covered institution, the Secretary, the At-20
174174 torney General of the United States, and the 21
175175 appropriate committees of Congress regard-22
176176 ing— 23
177177 ‘‘(i) measures that the covered institu-24
178178 tion should take to remedy any violation 25
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182182 described in subparagraph (A) through re-1
183183 medial or corrective action; 2
184184 ‘‘(ii) any employee of the covered in-3
185185 stitution that the Special Inspector Gen-4
186186 eral determines, after a review or inves-5
187187 tigation described in subparagraph (A), 6
188188 should face disciplinary action (including 7
189189 removal) as a result of a violation de-8
190190 scribed in such subparagraph; 9
191191 ‘‘(iii) eligibility of the covered institu-10
192192 tion to receive funds from Federal student 11
193193 assistance or Federal institutional aid; 12
194194 ‘‘(iv) further investigation into the 13
195195 covered institution’s compliance with the 14
196196 Constitution of the United States, title VI, 15
197197 and other laws of the United States; and 16
198198 ‘‘(v) reforms to any Federal policies 17
199199 and programs that have the effect of 18
200200 incentivizing covered institutions to violate 19
201201 the Equal Protection Clause or title VI. 20
202202 ‘‘(2) M
203203 AINTENANCE OF SYSTEMS .—The Special 21
204204 Inspector General shall establish, maintain, and 22
205205 oversee such systems, procedures, and controls as 23
206206 the Special Inspector General considers appropriate 24
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210210 to discharge the duties of the Special Inspector Gen-1
211211 eral under paragraph (1). 2
212212 ‘‘(3) A
213213 DDITIONAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBIL -3
214214 ITIES.—In addition to the duties described in para-4
215215 graphs (1) and (2), the Special Inspector General 5
216216 shall also have the duties and responsibilities of in-6
217217 spectors general under chapter 4 of title 5, United 7
218218 States Code. 8
219219 ‘‘(4) C
220220 ONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION .— 9
221221 The Special Inspector General shall maintain the 10
222222 confidentiality of the identity of any person submit-11
223223 ting information to the Special Inspector General for 12
224224 the purposes of carrying out the duties of the Spe-13
225225 cial Inspector General under this section, including 14
226226 in any report submitted under subsection (g). 15
227227 ‘‘(e) P
228228 OWERS ANDAUTHORITIES.— 16
229229 ‘‘(1) I
230230 N GENERAL.—In carrying out the duties 17
231231 of the Special Inspector General under subsection 18
232232 (d), the Special Inspector General shall have the au-19
233233 thorities provided in section 406 of title 5, United 20
234234 States Code. 21
235235 ‘‘(2) T
236236 REATMENT OF OFFICE .—The Office of 22
237237 the Special Inspector General shall be considered to 23
238238 be an office described in section 406(f)(3) of title 5, 24
239239 United States Code. 25
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243243 ‘‘(f) PERSONNEL, FACILITIES, ANDOTHERRE-1
244244 SOURCES.— 2
245245 ‘‘(1) A
246246 PPOINTMENT OF OFFICERS AND EMPLOY -3
247247 EES.— 4
248248 ‘‘(A) I
249249 N GENERAL.—The Special Inspector 5
250250 General may select, appoint, and employ such 6
251251 officers and employees as may be necessary for 7
252252 carrying out the duties of the Special Inspector 8
253253 General. 9
254254 ‘‘(B) S
255255 TATUS.—The positions to which of-10
256256 ficers and employees are appointed under sub-11
257257 paragraph (A) shall be positions in schedule C 12
258258 of subpart C of part 213 of title 5, Code of 13
259259 Federal Regulations, or any successor regula-14
260260 tions. 15
261261 ‘‘(2) E
262262 XPERTS AND CONSULTANTS .—The Spe-16
263263 cial Inspector General may obtain services as au-17
264264 thorized under section 3109 of title 5, United States 18
265265 Code, at daily rates not to exceed the equivalent rate 19
266266 prescribed for grade GS–15 of the General Schedule 20
267267 by section 5332 of that title. 21
268268 ‘‘(3) C
269269 ONTRACTS.—The Special Inspector Gen-22
270270 eral may enter into contracts and other arrange-23
271271 ments for audits, studies, analyses, and other serv-24
272272 ices with public agencies and with private persons, 25
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276276 and make such payments as may be necessary to 1
277277 carry out the duties of the Special Inspector Gen-2
278278 eral. 3
279279 ‘‘(g) R
280280 EPORTS.— 4
281281 ‘‘(1) Q
282282 UARTERLY REPORTS .— 5
283283 ‘‘(A) I
284284 N GENERAL.—Not later than 60 6
285285 days after the date on which the Special Inspec-7
286286 tor General is confirmed, and once every cal-8
287287 endar quarter thereafter, the Special Inspector 9
288288 General shall submit to the appropriate commit-10
289289 tees of Congress a report summarizing the ac-11
290290 tivities of the Special Inspector General during 12
291291 the 3-month period ending on the date on which 13
292292 the Special Inspector General submits the re-14
293293 port. 15
294294 ‘‘(B) C
295295 ONTENTS.—Each report submitted 16
296296 under subparagraph (A) shall include, for the 17
297297 period covered by the report, the following: 18
298298 ‘‘(i) A general description of the alle-19
299299 gations received and reviewed by the Spe-20
300300 cial Inspector General under subsection 21
301301 (d)(1)(A). 22
302302 ‘‘(ii) Recommendations of the Special 23
303303 Inspector General regarding reforms that 24
304304 the Special Inspector General believes 25
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308308 should be undertaken with respect to the 1
309309 authority of the Special Inspector General 2
310310 and matters within the authority of the 3
311311 Special Inspector General to review and in-4
312312 vestigate, including the authority described 5
313313 in subsection (d)(1)(B). 6
314314 ‘‘(iii) For a covered institution with 7
315315 respect to which an allegation submitted 8
316316 under this section applies, the steps that 9
317317 the covered institution has taken, and has 10
318318 yet to take, to remedy the issues outlined 11
319319 in the allegation. 12
320320 ‘‘(iv) Data regarding the number of 13
321321 allegations received and reviewed by the 14
322322 Special Inspector General under this sec-15
323323 tion that document any legitimate viola-16
324324 tion, as determined by the Special Inspec-17
325325 tor General, which shall— 18
326326 ‘‘(I) be disaggregated by the 19
327327 number of violations committed by 20
328328 each covered institution; and 21
329329 ‘‘(II) contain a separate provision 22
330330 listing the number of those acts that 23
331331 relate to racial bias, which shall be 24
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335335 disaggregated as described in sub-1
336336 clause (I). 2
337337 ‘‘(v) Commentary by the Special In-3
338338 spector General regarding the level of co-4
339339 operation by each covered institution with 5
340340 respect to reviews and investigations per-6
341341 formed by the Special Inspector General, 7
342342 including, with respect to each covered in-8
343343 stitution, whether the covered institution 9
344344 has implemented recommendations made 10
345345 by the Special Inspector General and 11
346346 whether the covered institution has pro-12
347347 vided information or access requested by 13
348348 the Special Inspector General. 14
349349 ‘‘(2) R
350350 ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—Nothing in 15
351351 this subsection may be construed to authorize the 16
352352 public disclosure of information that is— 17
353353 ‘‘(A) specifically prohibited from disclosure 18
354354 by any other provision of law; 19
355355 ‘‘(B) specifically required by Executive 20
356356 order to be protected from disclosure in the in-21
357357 terest of national defense or national security or 22
358358 in the conduct of foreign affairs; or 23
359359 ‘‘(C) a part of an ongoing criminal inves-24
360360 tigation. 25
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364364 ‘‘(h) FUNDING.—There are authorized to be appro-1
365365 priated $25,000,000 to carry out this section, which shall 2
366366 remain available until expended. 3
367367 ‘‘(i) C
368368 OUNCIL OF THEINSPECTORSGENERAL ONIN-4
369369 TEGRITY ANDEFFICIENCY.—The Special Inspector Gen-5
370370 eral shall be a member of the Council of the Inspectors 6
371371 General on Integrity and Efficiency established under sec-7
372372 tion 424 of title 5, United States Code. 8
373373 ‘‘(j) C
374374 ORRECTIVERESPONSES TO AUDITPROB-9
375375 LEMS.—A covered institution shall— 10
376376 ‘‘(1) take action to address deficiencies identi-11
377377 fied by a report or investigation of the Special In-12
378378 spector General; or 13
379379 ‘‘(2) with respect to a deficiency identified 14
380380 under paragraph (1), certify to the Special Inspector 15
381381 General and the appropriate committees of Congress 16
382382 that no action is necessary or appropriate. 17
383383 ‘‘(k) R
384384 ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-18
385385 tion may be construed as limiting the authority of the In-19
386386 spector General of the Department. 20
387387 ‘‘(l) S
388388 UNSET.—The Office of the Special Inspector 21
389389 General for Unlawful Discrimination in Higher Education, 22
390390 established under this section, shall terminate on the date 23
391391 that is 12 years after the date of enactment of the College 24
392392 Admissions Accountability Act of 2025.’’. 25
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396396 (b) TABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents in 1
397397 section 1 of the Department of Education Organization 2
398398 Act (20 U.S.C. 3401 note) is amended by inserting after 3
399399 the item relating to section 220 the following new item: 4
400400 ‘‘Sec. 221. Special Inspector General for Unlawful Discrimination in Higher
401401 Education.’’.
402402 (c) HIGHEREDUCATIONACT OF1965.—Part B of 5
403403 title I of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6
404404 1011 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol-7
405405 lowing: 8
406406 ‘‘SEC. 124. INELIGIBILITY DUE TO DISCRIMINATION ON THE 9
407407 BASIS OF RACE IN VIOLATION OF EQUAL 10
408408 PROTECTION CLAUSE OR TITLE VI. 11
409409 ‘‘Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no in-12
410410 stitution of higher education shall be eligible to receive 13
411411 funds from Federal student assistance or Federal institu-14
412412 tional aid under this Act if the Secretary determines that 15
413413 the institution had an admissions decision, policy, or prac-16
414414 tice, or financial aid determination or academic program, 17
415415 that discriminated on the basis of race in violation of— 18
416416 ‘‘(1) the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th 19
417417 Amendment to the Constitution of the United 20
418418 States, pursuant to the holding in Students for Fair 21
419419 Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Har-22
420420 vard College, 143 S. Ct. 2141 (2023); or 23
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424424 ‘‘(2) title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 1
425425 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.).’’. 2
426426 Æ
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