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INSTRUCT Act of 2025
3/6/2025, 2:53 AM
Summary of Bill HR 1018
Specifically, the bill mandates that colleges and universities report any gifts or contracts from foreign sources that exceed $50,000 in a calendar year. This information must be disclosed to the Department of Education, which will then make it publicly available on a designated website. Additionally, the bill requires institutions to disclose the total amount of foreign gifts and contracts received, as well as the specific countries from which the funding originated.
The purpose of this legislation is to increase transparency and accountability in higher education by ensuring that the public is aware of any potential foreign influence on academic research, programs, and activities. By requiring institutions to disclose this information, lawmakers hope to safeguard against undue foreign influence and protect the integrity of American higher education. Overall, the Foreign Gift Transparency Act seeks to promote transparency and accountability in higher education by requiring institutions to provide additional information about foreign gifts and contracts they receive. This legislation aims to protect the integrity of academic research and programs in the United States.
Congressional Summary of HR 1018
Instructing Noteworthy Steps toward Transparency to Rout and Undo Calamitous Transactions Act of 2025 or the INSTRUCT Act of 2025
This bill requires the Department of Education (ED) to share foreign gift and contract reports from institutions of higher education (IHEs) with specified federal agencies.
Under current law, an IHE must disclose to ED a gift from or contract with a foreign source that is valued at $250,000 or more, considered alone or in combination with all other gifts from or contracts with that foreign source. This bill requires ED, within 30 days of receiving a disclosure report from an IHE, to transmit an unredacted copy of the report to 11 listed agencies (e.g., the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of State, and the Department of Homeland Security).
The bill also requires ED, within 90 days of the bill's enactment, to transmit additional information to these federal agencies. Specifically, ED must transmit (1) any disclosure report received by ED prior to the bill's enactment; and (2) any report, document, or other record generated by ED in the course of investigating an IHE's compliance with disclosure requirements (and such investigation was initiated prior to the bill's enactment).
The Government Accountability Office must study and report on ways to improve intergovernmental agency coordination for implementing and enforcing disclosure reporting requirements.
