Newswire Archives
The National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA) and WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET)/ State Authorization Network (SAN) held a two-part webinar series focused on state authorization and SARA. Part 1 was entitled “State & Federal Building Blocks for Out-of-State Activity Compliance” and Part 2 was entitled “Introduction to SARA”.
More details, including the webinar video recordings, may be accessed here.
ASAHP joined the Association of American Medical Colleges and 45 health professional and educational organizations in an amicus curiae brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the limited consideration of an applicant’s racial or ethnic background or experiences in higher education admissions in the Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admission v. University of North Carolina cases before the Court this fall. A ruling is expected in June 2023.
The amicus curiae brief may be accessed here. The AAMC’s press release may be accessed here.
Today, Senate Appropriations Chair Patrick Leahy (D-VT) released the Committees FY 23 appropriations bills. The $1.67 trillion Appropriations package includes $653 billion in non-defense discretionary spending, a 10.1 percent increase over fiscal year 2022, $850 billion in defense discretionary spending, an 8.7 percent increase over fiscal year 2022, and $118.7 billion for VA medical care, a 22 percent increase over fiscal year 2022.
The Labor-HHS bill includes $119.7 billion in discretionary funding for HHS, an increase of $11.6 billion over FY 22 enacted levels and $3.6 billion less than President Joe Biden's request for the department.
The Labor-HHS bill includes $676.8 million ($158.1 million increase, or 30% increase over FY 22 enacted levels) for HRSA Title VII health professions programs, and $318.5 million ($38 million increase, or 14% increase over FY 22 enacted levels) for the HRSA Title VIII nursing workforce programs, for a total of $995.3 million for these programs. The explanatory statement also included $30 million for the new Preventing Burnout in the Health Workforce program, $5 million over the proposed funding level in the House Labor-HHS bill.
The bills will be used as the Senate’s mark in negotiations with the House, likely after the midterm elections if a topline spending agreement can be reached with Republicans.
A press release may be accessed here, a summary of the 12 bills is here, and the Labor-HHS bill details are here: bill text, explanatory statement, summary. A funding chart for the HRSA title VII and title VIII health workforce programs is available here.
Today, the House passed H.R. 4040, the Advancing Telehealth Beyond COVID-19 Act of 2022 by a 416-12 vote. The bill would make permanent several telehealth flexibilities under Medicare that were initially authorized during the public health emergency relating to COVID-19. The bill is expected to pass the Senate, though when it sees the Senate floor is uncertain.
More details may be accessed here.
The PSLF Coalition and Equal Justice Works are hosting a webinar on the most recent updates to the PSLF program and how to apply for PSLF during the temporary waiver offered by the Department of Education. The webinar will take place on Wednesday, August 3 at noon Eastern.
Registration details may be accessed here.
The Student Borrower Protection Center is holding a webinar panel series on student loans. Webinars will be held on August 2 (Addressing the Flaws of the Current Student Loan Collection System), August 9 (Solutions to Address Student Loan Default and Collections), and August 16 (The Role of States in Reforming Our Broken Student Loan Collection System).
Details may be accessed here.
The House passed two mental health bills pertaining to higher education last month. HR 5407, Enhancing Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Through Campus Planning Act, would direct the Department of Education to encourage institutions of higher education to develop and implement evidence-based comprehensive campus mental health and suicide prevention plans. HR 6493, Campus Prevention and Recovery Services for Students Act of 2022, would reauthorizes and revises the illicit drug and alcohol abuse prevention program, including by expanding the program to include efforts to prevent substance misuse on campuses. Both bills have been introduced in the Senate, awaiting further action.
Inside Higher Ed’s coverage may be accessed here. The bills may be accessed here and here.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Education released their notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on student loans and affordability issues, including the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. The Department is accepting public comments through August 12.
The NPRM may be accessed here. A July 6 Department of Education press release is available here.
The Geriatrics Academic Career Award (GACA) Program supports the career development of individual junior faculty in geriatrics at accredited schools of allopathic medicine, osteopathic medicine, nursing, social work, psychology, dentistry, pharmacy, or allied health as academic geriatrics specialists and to provide clinical training in geriatrics, including the training of interprofessional teams of health care professionals. There are 26 expected awards, and the estimated post date for the opportunity is August 11, 2022, and the estimated application due date is November 10, 2022.
More details may be accessed here.
The American Council on Education, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Education, will hold a webinar to help campus leaders learn about the temporary changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program and how they can help borrowers who are seeking to have their student loan debt forgiven. These changes expand the benefit to more nonprofit employees and will aid numerous college and university employees, students, alumni, and their families. Join this webinar to learn from a Department of Education expert about how to take advantage of these changes and submit waivers by the October 31 deadline. The event will be held on Tuesday, July 12 at 2:00pm Eastern.
Registration is available here.
Today, the House Appropriations Committee released its report for the FY 23 Labor-HHS-Education bill. The Committee will mark up the bill tomorrow at 9am.
The markup may be viewed here. The Committee’s press release and bill report may be accessed here. Chair Rosa DeLauro’s (D-CT) statement may be accessed here.
Last week, OMB provided updates on the rulemaking process for the Certification Procedures portion of the higher education Notice for Proposed Rulemaking. The Department of Education is scheduled to issue proposed regulations in April 2023, open to public comment for at least 30 days. If final regulations are released by November 1, 2023, they will become effective July 1, 2024. ASAHP has concerns about rulemaking on state authorization reciprocity as well as professional licensure.
Clinical experience is a core requirement of many allied health programs for graduation, and many of our members place students in out of state clinical rotations. State authorization reciprocity agreements have been vital in allowing our member institutions to provide these necessary clinical experiences. We have joined NC-SARA in recommending replacement language to the Department of Education.
More details may be accessed here.
On Saturday, President Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act into law. The bill is the first gun control legislation to become law in nearly three decades. The bill includes spending for school security and mental health treatment. ASAHP joined the Federation of Schools of the Health Professions (FASHP) in a letter of support sent to congressional leaders last week.
The support letter may be accessed here.
On Thursday, the Department of Education released its proposed Title IX regulations. The proposed regulations will be open for public comment for 60 days from the date of publication in the Federal Register. The Department will engage in a separate rulemaking to address Title IX's application to athletics.
The Department’s press release and more details are available here.
On Thursday, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHSED) advanced its FY 23 funding bill. The House allocations for the 12 subcommittees provide more than $1.6 trillion in funding, a nine percent increase over the FY22 enacted level. The LHHSED bill provides $242.1 billion, an increase of $28.5 billion (13 percent) above FY 22 enacted. Like FY 22, the House funding levels will be the highwater mark in negotiations with the Senate on reaching a topline spending agreement. The LHHSED bill provides a total of $86.7 billion in discretionary appropriations for ED, an increase of $10.3 billion above the FY 2022 enacted level; a total of $15 billion in discretionary appropriations for DOL, an increase of $1.9 billion above the FY 22 enacted level and $125 million above the President’s budget request; and a total of $124.2 billion for HHS, an increase of $15.6 billion above the FY 22 enacted level and $298 million below the President’s budget request. The bill provides a total of $9.6 billion for HRSA, an increase of $683 million above the FY 2022 enacted level and $792 million above the President’s budget request. The bill includes an increase of $132 million to grow and prepare the behavioral health workforce and $25 million to develop and disseminate best practices for Preventing Burnout in the Health Workforce. The LHHSED full committee markup is scheduled for June 30 at 10am Eastern and we expect the explanatory statement report to be released on June 29.
Chair Rosa DeLauro’s (D-CT) opening remarks at the Subcommittee markup are here. Ranking Member Kay Granger’s (R-TX) opening remarks are here. A summary of the bill is here. The text of the draft bill is here. The included earmarks (Community Project Funding) in the bill are here.
The House Education and Labor Committee held a nearly four hour hearing on the “Examining the Policies and Priorities of the U.S. Department of Education with Secretary Miguel Cardona. The hearing was contentious with Chair Scott having to remind the committee that “all Members are advised to leave out questions of motive or character of other Members.”
