Compliance Alert – July 2023
- July 26th, 2023
- in Compliance, Newsletter, Policy Update
Legislative Updates
Legislation currently under review in special session.
SB8 To amend Section 17-14-70, Code of Alabama 1975, to provide for the reapportionment and redistricting of the state’s United States Congressional districts for the purpose of electing members at the General Election in 2024 and thereafter, until the release of the next federal census. Identical language is listed in HB6.
Final Rules
The Secretary is issuing updated waivers and modifications of statutory and regulatory provisions governing the Federal student financial aid programs under the authority of the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003 (HEROES Act). The waivers and modifications in this document apply only to the national emergency declared in regard to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID–19) pandemic. With the termination of the COVID–19 national emergency, effective April 10, 2023, each waiver and modification identified in this document expires at the end of the award year that ends on June 30, 2023, unless otherwise noted in this document or unless it is otherwise extended by the Secretary in a document published in the Federal Register. HEROES Act waivers and modifications included in earlier documents sunset in accordance with the timeframes provided in those documents.
Federal Agency: Department of Education
Affected Area: Student Financial Aid
Reporting Theft or Significant Loss of Controlled Substances
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is publishing this final rule amending the regulations regarding DEA Form 106, used by DEA registrants to formally report thefts or significant losses of controlled substances, to require that all such forms be submitted electronically, and to clarify the time frame registrants have to complete the necessary documentation. This final rule does not change the requirement that registrants preliminarily notify the DEA Field Division Office in their area, in writing, of the theft or significant loss of any controlled substances within one business day of discovering such loss or theft. Paper copies of DEA Form 106 simply will no longer be accepted once the final rule becomes effective.
Federal Agency: Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of Justice
Affected Area: CCHS, CCN, UAPD
The U.S. Department of Education issues final regulations governing income-contingent repayment plans by amending the Revised Pay as You Earn (REPAYE) repayment plan and restructuring and renaming the repayment plan regulations under the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program, including combining the Income Contingent Repayment (ICR) and the Income-Based Repayment (IBR) plans under the umbrella term of “Income-Driven Repayment” (IDR) plans, and providing conforming edits to the FFEL Program.
Federal Agency: Department of Education
Affected Area: Student Financial Aid
On November 1, 2022, the Department of Education (Department) published in the Federal Register final regulations relating to loans under the Federal Perkins Loan (Perkins) Program, the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program and the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program. This document corrects technical errors in the regulations and preamble. This document does not contain any substantive changes to the regulations.
Federal Agency: Department of Education
Affected Area: Student Financial Aid
This final rule amends the civil money penalty (CMP) regulations of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) to: incorporate new CMP authority for information blocking; incorporate new authorities for CMPs, assessments, and exclusions related to HHS grants, contracts, other agreements; and increase the maximum penalties for certain CMP violations.
Federal Agency: Office of Inspector General (OIG), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Affected Area: OSP, ORED
Proposed Rules
Health and Human Services Grants Regulation
This is a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to repromulgate and revise certain regulatory provisions of the HHS, Uniform Administrative Rule Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for HHS Awards, previously set forth in a final rule published in the Federal Register .
Federal Agency: Office for Civil Rights (OCR), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources (ASFR), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Affected Area: OSP, ORED
Comments Due: 9/11/2023
Notices
The Secretary announces deadline dates for the receipt of documents and other information from applicants and institutions participating in certain Federal student aid programs authorized under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), for the 2023–2024 award year. These programs, administered by the Department of Education (Department), provide financial assistance to students attending eligible postsecondary educational institutions to help them pay their educational costs. The Federal student aid programs (title IV, HEA programs) covered by this deadline date notice are the Pell Grant, Direct Loan, TEACH Grant, Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant, and campus-based (FSEOG and FWS) programs. Assistance Listing Numbers: 84.007 FSEOG Program; 84.033 FWS Program; 84.063 Pell Grant Program; 84.268 Direct Loan Program; 84.379 TEACH Grant Program; 84.408 Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant Program.
Federal Agency: Department of Education
Affected Area: Student Financial Aid
The Language Resource Centers program provides grants to institutions of higher education to establish, strengthen, and operate national language resource and training centers for improving the nation’s capacity for teaching and learning foreign languages through teacher training, research, instructional materials development, and dissemination projects. This program responds to the ongoing national need for individuals with expertise and competence in world languages; advance national security by developing a pipeline of highly proficient linguists; and contribute to developing a globally competent workforce able to engage with a multilingual/multicultural clientele at home and abroad.
Federal Agency: Department of Education
Affected Area: Capstone International, Foreign Languages
Sections 460 and 428J of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA) provide for teacher loan forgiveness in William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program and the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program. Borrowers who teach for five consecutive years at schools or educational service agencies serving low-income families and meet certain other requirements may receive up to $17,500 in loan forgiveness. The teacher loan forgiveness regulations at 34 CFR 685.217 (for the Direct Loan Program) and 34 CFR 682.216 (for the FFEL Program) require borrowers to provide their loan holders with documentation establishing their eligibility for teacher loan forgiveness and for teacher loan forgiveness forbearance. The U.S. Department of Education (ED) is requesting an extension of the currently approved forms. To reflect regulatory changes made by a final rule published on November 1, 2022 (87 FR 65904), we have updated language related to the capitalization of unpaid interest that accrues during periods of forbearance. ED is otherwise making no substantive changes to the language in either of the two currently approved forms, and there are no changes to the data elements.
Federal Agency: Federal Student Aid (FSA), Department of Education (ED)
Affected Area: Student Financial Aid
Comments Due: 8/21/2023
The TEACH Grant Program provides grants of up to $4,000 per year to undergraduate and graduate students who are completing, or who intend to complete, coursework necessary to begin a career in teaching. In exchange for receiving a TEACH Grant, a grant recipient must agree to complete a teaching service obligation and must regularly provide documentation of his or her progress toward satisfying the service obligation. If a grant recipient fails to complete the service obligation or does not meet requirements for documenting the service obligation, the TEACH Grants that the individual received are converted to a Direct Unsubsidized Loan that must be repaid, with interest charged from the date of each TEACH Grant disbursement.
Federal Agency: Federal Student Aid (FSA), Department of Education (ED)
Affected Area: Student Financial Aid
Comments Due: 8/21/2023
Draft Plan for Providing Public Access to the Results of Federally Funded Research
The National Institute of Standards and Technology seeks comments on the Draft NIST Plan for Providing Public Access to the Results of Federally Funded Research. NIST is taking steps to make its scientific data and publications more readily available and accessible by the public, as directed in an August 2022 memorandum from the Office of Science and Technology Policy. The NIST Public Access Plan applies to the results of research funded wholly or in part by NIST, presented in peer-reviewed scholarly publications and as research data. This document outlines NIST’s plan for implementing new requirements to manage the public access of scientific data and publications. Public comments received on the NIST Public Access Plan will inform NIST as it revises its existing directives to implement the updated Plan.
Federal Agency: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of Commerce
Affected Area: ORED
Comments Due: 8/14/2023
The Department of Education (Department) requested emergency processing for this revision of the information collection, 1845–0065, Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) Discharge Application and Related Forms; and therefore, is requesting the 60-day public comment period for the full ICR. The regulations governing TPD discharges of Federal student loans and TEACH Grant service obligations are contained in 34 CFR 685.213 for the Direct Loan Program, 34 CFR 682.402(c) for the FFEL Program, 34 CFR 674.61(b) for the Perkins Loan Program, and 34 CFR 686.42(b) for the TEACH Grant Program. A final rule published on November 1, 2022 (87 FR 65904) made changes to the TPD discharge regulations, including an expansion of the types of SSA disability determinations that qualify a borrower or TEACH Grant recipient for TPD discharge; elimination of the requirement for borrowers who receive TPD discharges based on SSA determinations or a physician’s certification to provide documentation of their annual earnings from employment during the 3-year post-discharge monitoring period; and expansion of the categories of medical professionals who may certify an individual’s TPD discharge application which necessitate the revision of this information collection.
Federal Agency: Federal Student Aid (FSA), Department of Education (ED)
Affected Area: Student Financial Aid
Comments Due: 9/8/2023
The Department of Education (Department) requested emergency processing for this revised information collection, 1845–0058; and therefore, is requesting the 60-day public comment period for the full ICR. The Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), established the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program, the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program, and the Federal Perkins (Perkins) Loan programs under title IV, parts B, D, and E, respectively. Section 437(c)(1) of the HEA authorizes the discharge of a FFEL or Direct Loan program loan borrower’s obligation to repay their loan(s) based on school closure or false certification of student eligibility. Section 464(g)(1) of the HEA authorizes the discharge of a Perkins Loan Program loan based on school closure. The Department published a final rule on November 1, 2022 (87 FR 65904) that made significant changes to the regulations governing loan discharge based on school closure and false certification.
Federal Agency: Federal Student Aid (FSA), Department of Education (ED)
Affected Area: Student Financial Aid
Comments Due: 9/8/2023
This information collection (OMB 1840–0795) includes application instructions and forms for the International Research and Studies (IRS) Program (CFDA Number 84.017), authorized under title VI of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (20 U.S.C. 1125). The program provides grants to institutions, public and private agencies, organizations, and individuals to conduct research and studies to improve and strengthen instruction in modern foreign languages, area studies, and other international fields.
Federal Agency: Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE), Department of Education (ED)
Affected Area: Capstone International, ORED, OAA
Comments Due: 8/7/2023
Since 1987, NPSAS has been fielded every 2 to 4 years, most recently during the 2019–20 academic year (NPSAS:20). NPSAS:24 will be nationally-representative. The NPSAS:24 sample size will include about 2,000 institutions from which will be sampled 137,000 nationally representative undergraduate and 25,000 nationally representative graduate students who will be asked to complete a survey and for whom we will collect student records and administrative data. Also, NPSAS:24 is scheduled to serve as the base year for the 2024 cohort of the Baccalaureate and Beyond (B&B) Longitudinal Study, but no funding is available to field follow-up surveys. In the event Congress appropriates additional funds, the NPSAS:24 sampling design will include a nationally representative sample of students who will complete requirements for the bachelor’s degree during the NPSAS year ( i.e., completed at some point between July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024). Subsets of questions in the student survey will focus on describing aspects of the experience of students in their last year of postsecondary education, including student debt, education experiences, and preparation activities for those planning to teach at the pre-K through 12th grade level.
Federal Agency: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Department of Education (ED)
Affected Area: OAA
Comments Due: 8/10/2023
The U.S. Department of Education is requesting a revision of the TEACH Grant Agreement currently approved under OMB No. 1845–0083. The Consider Teachers Act of 2021 (Pub. L. 117–49) made certain changes to the provisions governing the TEACH Grant Program in section 420N of the HEA, one of which was to replace the previous requirement for a TEACH Grant recipient to comply with the requirements for being a highly qualified teacher as defined in section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 with a requirement for the recipient to meet all state certification requirements for teaching (which may include meeting such requirements through certification obtained through alternative routes to teaching). To reflect this statutory change, we have modified the Agreement by replacing all references to the highly qualified teacher requirement with the new requirement and removing the definition of “highly qualified teacher.” We have also updated the section of the Agreement that describes the terms and conditions of Direct Unsubsidized Loans to reflect certain changes to the Direct Loan Program regulations that were made by a final rule published in the Federal Register on November 1, 2022 (87 FR 65904). In addition to making these updates to reflect statutory and regulatory changes, we have made minor, non-substantive wording changes in several places throughout the Agreement for greater clarity.
Federal Agency: Federal Student Aid (FSA), Department of Education (ED)
Affected Area: Student Financial Aid
Comments Due: 9/11/2023
The U.S. Department of Education (the Department) is requesting a revision of the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher (TEACH) Grant Certification of Qualifying Teaching (Certification), and five Service Obligation Suspension Requests (Suspension Requests) currently approved under Office of Management and Budget (OMB) No. 1845–0158. Under conditions that are specified in the TEACH Grant Program regulations, a grant recipient may request and receive a temporary suspension of the eight-year period for completing the service obligation, and a grant recipient who is subject to an extended call to active-duty military service may receive a discharge of some or all of the four-year service obligation. The requested revision to the information collection does not change the current number of respondents, responses, or burden hours. The only substantive proposed change is in the Certification. We have also made a minor conforming change in the TEACH Grant Service Obligation Suspension Request: Enrollment in a Qualifying Program or Completing Teacher Licensure Requirements form and minor formatting change to the TEACH Grant Service Obligation Suspension/Discharge Request: Military Service. We are otherwise proposing no substantive changes to the Certification and Suspension forms included with this submission.
Federal Agency: Federal Student Aid (FSA), Department of Education (ED)
Affected Area: Student Financial Aid
Comments Due: 9/11/2023
Update to the Department of Homeland Security STEM Designated Degree Program List
This notice announces that the Secretary of Homeland Security (Secretary) is amending the DHS STEM Designated Degree Program List by adding eight qualifying fields of study and a corresponding Department of Education Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code for each. No CIP codes from the existing list are being removed. The list is used to determine whether a degree obtained by certain F–1 nonimmigrant students following the completion of a program of study qualifies as a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) degree as determined by DHS, as required for the F–1 student to be eligible to apply for a 24-month extension of their post-completion optional practical training (OPT).
Federal Agency: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Affected Area: OAA
Items of Interest
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or “Agency”) is seeking public nominations of scientific and technical experts to review the “2023 White Paper on the Quantitative Human Health Approach to be Applied in the Risk Evaluation for Asbestos Part 2.” The white paper will be released for public review and comment in late July 2023 and subsequently submitted for letter peer review. EPA currently anticipates selecting approximately 10–15 expert reviewers and plans to make a list of candidates under consideration as prospective letter reviewers for this review available for public comment by early August 2023.
Comments Due: 7/24/2023
Request for Nominations to the National Environmental Youth Advisory Council
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) invites applications from a diverse range of qualified candidates to be considered for appointment to the National Environmental Youth Advisory Council. Approximately sixteen vacancies are expected to be filled by December 2023. For appointment consideration, nominations should be submitted by August 22, 2023. Sources in addition to this Federal Register notice may also be utilized in the solicitation of nominees.
Request for Membership Nominations for the Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship (ACA)
The Acting Secretary of Labor (Secretary) has determined that the renewal of the Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship (hereinafter ACA or Committee) was necessary and in the public interest. The Department of Labor re-established the ACA Charter in 2021, and recently renewed its Charter, with revisions, on May 11, 2023. The Acting Secretary of Labor is now requesting nominations of qualified candidates to be considered for appointment to the ACA for the 2023–2025 membership term.
Comments Due: 7/29/2023
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Office of Pesticide Programs is inviting nominations from a diverse range of qualified candidates to be considered for appointment to the Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee (PPDC). The PPDC is chartered to provide policy advice, information, and recommendations to the EPA on a wide variety of pesticide regulatory developments and reform initiatives, evolving public policy, and program implementation issues associated with evaluating and reducing risks from pesticide use. To maintain the representation outlined by the charter, nominees will be selected to represent: environmental/public interest and animal rights groups; farm worker organizations; pesticide industry and trade associations; pesticide user, grower, and commodity groups; federal/state/local and tribal governments; academia; and public health organizations. Vacancies are expected to be filled by December 2023. Sources in addition to this Federal Register Notice may be utilized in the solicitation of nominees.
Comments Due: 8/10/2023
HRSA is seeking nominations of qualified candidates to be considered for appointment as members of the Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation (ACOT or Committee). ACOT provides advice and recommendations to the Secretary of HHS (Secretary) on proposed Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network policies and such other matters as the Secretary determines. The Secretary also may seek the advice of the Committee on other proposed policies.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is seeking nominations for membership on the Board of Scientific Counselors, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (BSC, NCIPC). The BSC, NCIPC consists of up to 18 experts in pertinent disciplines involved in injury and violence prevention.
Comments Due: 9/15/2023
Technical Mapping Advisory Council
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is requesting qualified individuals interested in serving on the Technical Mapping Advisory Council (TMAC) apply for appointment. The TMAC, as established in the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012, makes recommendations to the FEMA Administrator on how to improve, in a cost-effective manner, the accuracy, general quality, ease of use, distribution, and dissemination of Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) and risk data; and to define performance metrics and milestones required to effectively and efficiently map flood risk areas in the United States. The appointments are for 3 years each and applicants will be considered for three vacancies on the TMAC.
Comments Due: 8/28/2023
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Aggregated Regulatory Requirements Impacting Federally Funded Research Since 1991 (Updated June 28, 2023)
Policies
| Posting Date | Department | Contact | Name | Effective Date | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6/29/2023 | Human Resources | Susan Norton | Staff Supplemental Compensation Policy
|
8/15/2013 | Revised Policy: Language added to clarify the intent of the policy and updated policy references. |
| 7/5/2023 | Shared Administrative Services | Alexandria Taylor | Student Mailbox Service Policy | 9/21/2022 | Revised Policy: Updating the policy to include language for package fees for off-campus students that will be implemented in June 2023. |
Please contact Compliance, Ethics, and Regulatory Affairs with any questions or concerns about compliance with a particular regulation and/or for suggestions to improve the newsletter.