Federal Updates

U.S. Department of Education

February 26, 2020 – The Department posted on the Federal Register a notice announcing the existence and location of its guidance portal. This guidance portal is meant to make it easy for the public and our stakeholders to locate the Department's guidance documents through the links within the guidance portal. The Department initially developed this guidance portal in July 2019 to implement recommendation number two from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's Majority Staff Report recommendation. As mentioned within the guidance portal, guidance documents lack the force and effect of law, except as authorized by law or as incorporated into a contract. 

February 28, 2020 – The Department posted an electronic announcement reminding institutions about the longstanding requirements of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) and the intention of the Department to begin enforcing the legal requirements of the GLBA through annual compliance audits. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), which was signed into law on November 12, 1999, created a requirement that financial institutions must have certain information privacy protections and safeguards in place.  The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has enforcement authority for the requirements and has determined that institutions of higher education (institutions) are financial institutions under GLBA. 

March 2, 2020 – Federal Student Aid released the first Pell Grant administrative cost allowance payments for 2019-20 award. The Federal Pell Grant (Pell Grant) regulations at 34 CFR 690.10 provide for an Administrative Cost Allowance (ACA) payment of $5.00 to each participating school for each student who receives a Pell Grant at that school for an award year. These funds may be used only to defray the costs of administering the Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, Federal Work-Study, and Federal Perkins Loan programs.

The Department announced, on the Federal Register, opportunities for individuals to participate in its peer review process by reviewing applications for competitive grant funding. This year, the Office of Postsecondary Education expects to conduct nearly 20 grant competitions to fund a wide range of projects, including: Projects to support improvements in educational quality, management, and financial stability at colleges that enroll high numbers of minority and financially disadvantaged students; projects to provide high-quality support services to improve retention and graduation rates of low-income and first generation college students; projects designed to strengthen foreign language instruction, area and international studies teaching and research, professional development for educators, and curriculum development at the K-12, graduate, and postsecondary levels; and other innovative projects designed to improve postsecondary education. 

March 3, 2020 – The Department of Education has published final regulations relating to the accreditation of institutions of higher education, as well as State authorization requirements for distance education, which may have an impact on your State. With the exception of a few provisions relating to the recognition of accrediting agencies, which will take effect July 1, 2021, the accreditation and State authorization regulations will take effect on July 1, 2020. Some of the key provisions of the final regulation are briefly explained below:

·          Regional versus National Accreditation: The new regulations have removed geography from an accrediting agency’s scope.  Instead of distinguishing between regional and national accrediting agencies, the Department will distinguish only between institutional and programmatic accrediting agencies.  The Department will no longer use the terms “regional” or “national” to refer to an accrediting agency.

·          State Authorization: The Department’s revised Accreditation and State Authorization regulations also make changes to State authorization requirements. For example, in order for a distance education provider to serve students in a State other than the one in which the institution has a physical presence, either the State in which the institution is located or the State in which the student is located must have a process in place to receive and review student complaints. In addition, because it is important for all students – and not just those who enroll in distance education – to understand whether the program in which they are enrolled will qualify them to work in certain occupations in a given State, the revised regulations require both ground-based and online programs to notify students accordingly.

 

Recently Introduced Federal Legislation

H.R. 6033 – To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to increase the period of eligibility for Federal Pell Grants, and for other purposes.

a.         Status: Referred to House Committee on Education and Labor, 2/28/20
b.         Sponsor: Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-MI), 5 Cosponsors 

H.R. 6031 – To require eligible institutions under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to designate a Clery Compliance Officer to ensure compliance with the requirements of the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act.

a.        Status: Referred to House Committee on Education and Labor, 2/28/20
b.        Sponsor: Rep. Ann Kuster (D-NH), 1 Cosponsor 

H.R. 5961 – Student Apprenticeship Act of 2020

a.         Summary: To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to support apprenticeship programs.
b.         Status: Referred to House Committee on Education and Labor, 2/25/20
c.         Sponsor: Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), 2 Cosponsors 

H.Res.864 – Supporting the goals and ideals of Career and Technical Education Month.

a.         Status: Referred to House Committee on Education and Labor, 2/25/20
b.         Sponsor: James Langevin (D-RI), 69 Cosponsors 

 

Cybersecurity Update: Protecting Student Data Critical to Continued Participation in the Federal Student Aid Programs 

 

State Update

Virginia House Committee Tables Senate Hour Reduction Bill

The first week of March finds 39 state legislatures actively meeting.  Three legislatures – Oregon, Virginia and West Virginia – are scheduled to adjourn their 2020 legislative sessions this coming weekend.  As always, AACS keeps you apprised of the latest state legislative developments of interest to member schools. 

In Virginia, the House General Laws Committee voted 15 to 7 last week to table SB 915.  As passed by the Senate, SB 915 would have prohibited the Commonwealth’s Board for Barbers and Cosmetology from requiring more than 1,200 hours of instruction “in the field for which an applicant for a license to practice.”  As reported last week, the House Professions/Occupations and Administrative Process Subcommittee recommend reporting a substitute to SB 915 that would have directed the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation and the Board for Barber and Cosmetology to “consider” amending regulations related to the licensure of cosmetologists. 

West Virginia’s legislature is poised to eliminate the permit for shampoo assistants before adjourning on Saturday.  Under current law, shampoo assistants must pass a three clock hour in-person or online sanitation course to engage “in the practice of shampooing and rinsing hair; removing rollers or permanent rods and cleansing or other sink-related functions not requiring the skill of a license.”  On Monday, the Senate Government Organization Committee favorably reported HB 4099 to the Senate floor. 

Arizona’s House of Representatives voted 60 to 0 last week to pass a bill merging the state’s barbering and cosmetology boards.  As previously reported, HB 2740 would also: reduce the course of instruction for barbering from 1,500 to 1,000 hours; allow for pre-graduation testing; provide for out-of-state licensed professionals to provide services for up to two weeks to “persons who are attending an athletic, charitable, artistic or social event” in Arizona, and; correct a statutory oversight by allowing hairstylists to remove superfluous hair from the neck.  Of interest to schools, the bill would: allow schools to offer both barbering and cosmetology programs if they have appropriately licensed instructors for each; allow students to provide off-campus services at a school sponsored event, and; permit schools to offer “similar” programs – for example, massage therapy – not regulated by the state’s cosmetology board. 

An adopted House floor amendment would require the newly constituted barbering and cosmetology board to “determine whether a reduction of instruction hours that are required for current licenses is necessary and how a reduction of instruction hours might affect reciprocity with other states.”  To this end, the amendment authorizes up to $750,000 from the barbering and cosmetology fund to prepare a report and recommendations to be submitted to the Governor and legislature on or before November 1, 2022.  HB 2740 has been received in the Senate and referred to the Senate Commerce and Rules Committees. 

In Minnesota, the House Government Operations Committee reported a bill last week to deregulation hairstyling and makeup application.  HF 3202 will be considered on Thursday by the House State Government Finance Division. 

A similar hairstyling deregulation bill was reported by the Massachusetts House Consumer Protection and Licensure Committee last week. H3754 would require unlicensed individuals to “post a sign in a conspicuous location in the person's place of business notifying the public that the person's services are not regulated by the board.” 

The House Consumer Protection and Licensure Committee also reported H4451 and H3709.  H4451 would requiring hairdressing schools to provide at least one hour of domestic violence and sexual assault awareness training.  H3709 would require the Board of Registration of Cosmetology and Barbering to offer licensure exams in the following languages: English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese and Haitian Creole.  All three Massachusetts House bills are currently in the House Ways and Means Committee. 

Next door in Rhode Island, the House Health, Education and Welfare Committee voted to hold H7233 in the Committee for further study.  The bill would allow a licensed barber, hairdresser, pedicurist, manicurist or individual providing makeup application services to provide “training services for individuals that presently do not have such a license, and upon the completion of a four (4) year training period, the trainee shall be entitled to receive a license.” 

The text of the bills listed in this report can be found in AACS’ Bill Tracking Portal. 

Please do not hesitate to contact Brian Newman at bnewman@abingdonstrategies.com or by phone at 202-491-5254 with comments or questions.

 

Upcoming State Legislative Hearings

 

March 11, 2020 – House Business Affairs & Labor Committee Hearing on HB 1326
The bill would establish an “occupational credential portability program” that would apply to most licensed professions.  It presumes will some limited exceptions that “a person duly licensed, certified, registered, or enrolled in good standing in another state or United States territory to practice a particular profession or occupation” is entitle to a Colorado license upon certifying they have “equivalent experience or credentials” and have not been disciplined. 

March 18, 2020 at 10 a.m. (PDT) – California Joint Sunset Committee Hearing on cosmetology and barbering education
As reported by the Professional Beauty Federation of California, Senator Steve Glazer – the  Sunset Committee's lead co-chair – is focused on reducing the course of instruction for cosmetology from 1,600 hours and doing away with the Practical Exam. 

California schools are encouraged to attend and will be able to offer one-minute remarks to the Committee. 

March 19, 2020 – Maryland House Appropriations Committee Hearing on SB 294
The bill would require for-profit colleges and trade schools, including cosmetology schools, to derive at least 10% of their revenue “from a source other than federal funds.”  Beginning in FY 2023, schools would be prohibited from enrolling new Maryland residents if they fail the state’s 90/10 rule for two consecutive years or two of their three preceding fiscal years.

 

State Bill Introduction

New Jersey A3397
The bill would require New Jersey cosmetology and hairstyling schools to provide one hour of domestic violence sensitivity and response training.  “The training shall include, but not be limited to, information concerning recognizing the signs of abuse and assault and the resources available to victims of domestic violence.”