Last Friday, March 27, President Trump signed into law the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid,
Relief, and Economic Security Act (H.R. 748) also known as the CARES Act or Stimulus
Bill.

AACS has two resources to help you understand this bill and how it may benefit our
members:

For an overview, summary of provisions, and explanations of small business
assistance, education provisions, and waiver authority, click here.

The American Council on Education (ACE) has information for schools to help them
figure out a rough estimate of how much emergency assistance they may receive from
the Emergency Stabilization Fund included in the CARES Act. Click here.

 

 

Resource page

AACS is here for you with a comprehensive coronavirus resource page that will be updated as new information comes in.

Click here from the Centers for Disease Control, World Health Organization, Small Business Administration, U.S. Department of Education, accreditors, distance learning educators and more.

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Prescription RX card benefit 

With heightened concerns about our health, you and your staff, faculty and students
may need some additional assistance with your prescriptions. Ask the AACS national
office how you can download your prescription card, and potentially save up to 80% on
your medications. There are no health restrictions, and may be used on drugs not
covered in health plans. It may even be used on many pet prescriptions. The card is
pre-activated and ready for use! For your copy, contact Cristina@beautyschools.org. This benefit is for members only, and is accepted at more than 68,000 pharmacies nationwide.
 

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Home office needs? Try the Office Depot – OfficeMax member benefit

During this time of sheltering-in-place and remote working, OfficeMax is here to provide
AACS members special benefits. Businesses using the Office Depot discount program
see significant savings. Take advantage of the program today and you could save
thousands of dollars per year! To learn more, click here.
 

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AACS Government Relations Chairman Responds to Misleading Article “Fine Print of Stimulus Bill Contains Special Deals for Industries” From the New York Times

See Neal Heller’s response here

 

Federal Updates

U.S. Congress

 

March 27, 2020 – President Donald Trump has signed H.R. 748, the $2 trillion coronavirus rescue package, into law (the “CARES Act”). The Act makes emergency supplemental appropriations and other changes to law to help the Nation respond to the coronavirus outbreak. AACS has provided a summary of key provisions of the CARES Act here.

 

March 31, 2020 – President Trump encouraged Congress to pass a $2 trillion infrastructure bill as the next piece of legislation to boost the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic. "With interest rates for the United States being at ZERO, this is the time to do our decades long awaited Infrastructure Bill," Trump tweeted. Trump's backing could push Republicans to support such a measure, though GOP leaders have been hesitant to move forward with legislation that might include certain Democratic priorities they argue are unrelated to combating the virus.

 

U.S. Department of Education

 

March 25, 2020 –  U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced that, due to the COVID-19 national emergency, the Department will halt collection actions and wage garnishments to provide additional assistance to borrowers. This flexibility will last for a period of at least 60 days from March 13, 2020. The Department has stopped all requests to the U.S. Treasury to withhold money from defaulted borrowers' federal income tax refunds, Social Security payments, and other federal payments. Such withholdings, known as "Treasury offsets," are permitted by federal law and applied toward repayment of defaulted federal student loans. At the same time, the Secretary directed the Department to refund approximately $1.8 billion in offsets to more than 830,000 borrowers. The Department expects the number of borrowers who will benefit from this relief to increase as servicers work through additional offsets in the queue at the time of this announcement.

 

March 26, 2020 – U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced that the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is requiring major changes at Pennsylvania State University after finding that the school failed to protect students and address their complaints of sexual abuse in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. The prior administration failed to resolve the investigation, which opened in early 2014. The University must now provide for individual remedies for survivors whose complaints OCR determined that Penn State failed to  handle promptly and equitably, revise its recordkeeping practices to ensure proper documentation of sexual harassment complaints, and report to OCR on the handling of all Title IX complaints for the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 academic years.

 

March 27, 2020 –

 

The Department released the final 2020-21 Campus-Based programs funding worksheets and the 2020-21 Statement of Account for each of the Campus-Based programs. Please note that Congress is currently considering potential supplemental appropriations action in response to the COVID-19 national emergency that could impact Campus-Based program funding levels.

 

In an electronic announcement, the Department posted that the “Annual Student Loan Acknowledgement” process (previously referred to as the “Informed Borrowing Confirmation” process) will be available on StudentAid.gov beginning in late April 2020. However, while the Department plans to implement most of the functionality related to the Annual Student Loan Acknowledgement process, it will delay the requirement that borrowers complete the Annual Student Loan Acknowledgement prior to disbursement for the 2020–21 Award Year. Instead, the process must be completed before a borrower can receive the first disbursement of the first loan the borrower receives for a particular award year, starting with loans associated with the 2021–22 Award Year.

 

U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos stated that she will ask Congress to provide microgrants to help students continue to learn during the coronavirus crisis. The microgrants would be geared toward the most disadvantaged students in states or communities “where their school system has simply shut down,” she said during her first appearance at a White House coronavirus briefing. DeVos said she will also support microgrants to teachers to help their shift toward supporting students in a different environment.

 

March 30, 2020 –  The Department published a request in the Federal Register for an extension of the information collection to approve a form used to obtain information from federal student loan borrowers who allege that the loan(s) in their name were the result of a forgery. This information is used by the Secretary to make a determination of forgery for the Direct Loans, FFEL Program Loans, and Federal Perkins Loans held by the Department. This information collection stems from the common law legal principal of forgery, which is not reflected specifically in the Department's statute or regulations, but with which the Department must comply.

 

March 31, 2020 – In a notice published in the Federal Register, the Department stated that it has proposed priorities, requirements, and definitions for the Open Textbooks Pilot program conducted under the Fund for Improvement of Postsecondary Education (“FIPSE”), Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance number 84.116T. The Open Textbooks Pilot program supports projects at institutions of higher education (IHEs) that create new open textbooks or expand the use of open textbooks in order to achieve savings for students while maintaining or improving instruction and student learning outcomes.

 

Recently Introduced Federal Legislation

 

H.R.6397 – To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide for the refinancing of certain Federal student loans, and for other purposes.

a. Status: Referred to House Committee on Education and Labor, 3/26/20
b. Sponsor: Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) 40 Cosponsors

 

H.R.6396 – To provide tax and regulatory relief and health care flexibility to individuals and businesses affected by the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.

a.  Status: Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committees on Education and Labor, Oversight and Reform, House Administration, Energy and Commerce, Small Business, the Judiciary, Financial Services, Veterans' Affairs, and Agriculture, 3/26/20
b. Sponsor: Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) 4 Cosponsors

 

 

State update

 

West Virginia Eliminates Shampoo Assistant Permits      

 

State legislative activity remains severely disrupted by the ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.  To date, 56 legislative chambers have either temporarily adjourned, moved to virtual meetings, or announced an early recess or sine die adjournment.  Click here to find the current status of your state’s legislature.  AACS will continue to keep you apprised of the latest state developments of interest to member schools.   

 

West Virginia Governor Jim Justice (R) signed two cosmetology-related bills in law last week.  HB 4099, effective June 2, 2020, eliminates the permit for shampoo assistants. As previously reported, shampoo assistants were previously required to 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.” 

 

HB 4607, effective June 5, 2020, authorizes the operation of mobile shops for hair, nail, cosmetology, and aesthetics services. 

 

The text of the West Virginia bills 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.

 

 

COVID-19 Resources

 

AACS Coronavirus Resource Center  
The bottom of this page contains a running list of state distance learning guidance.  It was compiled with assistance from the AACS State Relations Committee and/or a review of state board websites. Accordingly, developments may be occurring faster than our ability to capture/report on them. Please contact your state regulator(s) for the most current information.

 

State and Local Government Responses to Covid-19
Stateside Associates, a state and local government relations firm, has created a chart with state legislative actions, executive agency actions, gubernatorial actions, and local government actions related to the outbreak of the coronavirus.  Executive actions closing retail and “non-essential” businesses will be of interest.  

 

PBA’s COVID-19 Information Page

 

National Governors Association Coronavirus Updates

 

 

Upcoming State Legislative Hearing

 

April 13, 2020 – Louisiana House Commerce Committee Hearing on HB 695

See below.

 

CANCELLED – March 31, 2020 – Louisiana House Commerce Committee Hearing on HB 660 and HB 695
HB 660 would provide for the licensure of advanced estheticians.  HB 695 revises certain licensure fees and provides that assessed fees are nonrefundable.