Improving Access to Higher Education Act
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor.
Improving Access to Higher Education Act
This bill addresses accessibility issues of students with disabilities in higher education.
Specifically, the bill revises a grant program that supports institutions of higher education (IHEs) in educating students with disabilities. The Department of Education must award at least five grants to an IHE that provides professional development and technical assistance in order to improve access to and completion of postsecondary education for students, including students with disabilities.
The bill also (1) revises and reauthorizes through FY2028 a program for national technical assistance centers that assist students with disabilities, and (2) reauthorizes through FY2028 a program to promote training and job placement of real-time writers to provide closed captioning of videos.
Further, the bill establishes a new program that awards grants to IHEs for certain activities that improve accessibility of instruction and materials, such as distance education courses. The bill also establishes an independent commission to develop guidelines for accessible postsecondary electronic instructional materials and related technologies.
In addition, the bill requires each IHE to establish an office of accessibility to develop and implement policies that support students with disabilities.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on December 8, 2022. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on December 8, 2022: Referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 117th Congress (2021-22), 362 of the 15,242 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.4 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA) introduced it on December 8, 2022. No cosponsors are recorded.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on December 8, 2022, 1372 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 1372 days ago, on December 8, 2022.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 117th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2023 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers