HR1999-119

What This Bill Does

The Disclose GIFT Act adds faculty-and-staff foreign gift and contract disclosure rules to the Higher Education Act. Covered institutions are institutions eligible for title IV programs that either received more than $50 million in federal R&D support in any of the previous five years or receive title VI funds. Within 90 days, they must require covered individuals to disclose annual foreign gifts above the federal minimal-value threshold, foreign-source contracts of $5,000 or more, contracts of undetermined value, and any contract with a foreign country or entity of concern even at $0. Institutions must publish searchable, downloadable databases without personal identifiers, retain records, manage espionage risks, keep names for investigations and FOIA responses, designate one to three compliance officers, and certify compliance. Enforcement runs through Education Department General Counsel investigations, Attorney General civil actions to compel compliance, recovery of federal enforcement costs, first-time fines of the greater of $250,000 or the compelled report amount, later fines of the greater of $500,000 or twice the report amount, a Department single point of contact, public lists of foreign countries and entities of concern, title IV ineligibility after three compelled-compliance civil actions, and a GAO coordination study.

Who Benefits and How

Students and taxpayers benefit because large research universities must make foreign gift and contract information searchable without exposing faculty personal identifiers. University research-security offices benefit from explicit institutional policies, compliance-officer roles, and Department technical assistance. Congressional education and national-security committees benefit from 90-day investigation status updates and a GAO coordination study. The Education Department benefits from clearer enforcement tools and a single point of contact for compliance.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Federally funded universities must build disclosure policies, public databases, compliance offices, certification systems, and espionage-risk plans. Faculty and staff researchers must report covered foreign gifts and contracts to their institutions each year. Foreign sources and countries of concern face public disclosure of contracts, attributable countries, dates, values, and full contract text for concern-country agreements. Noncompliant institutions face civil actions, enforcement-cost recovery, escalating fines, and possible title IV ineligibility.

Key Provisions

• Requires covered institutions to collect annual faculty and staff disclosures of foreign gifts and contracts.
• Requires searchable public databases that omit personally identifiable information but retain disclosure details for at least five years or contract termination.
• Creates Education Department investigations, Attorney General civil actions, enforcement-cost recovery, and escalating fines.
• Requires one to three institutional compliance officers and compliance certification.
• Bars repeat noncompliant institutions from title IV programs for at least two institutional fiscal years.