Sponsors (8)
The bill would improve HBCUs' ability to find and compete for federal R&D funding and push agencies toward fairer, more coordinated practices, but it increases federal administrative costs and implementation burdens and could create oversight or expectation gaps if not properly funded and maintained.
HBCUs and their faculty/students get a single federal Clearinghouse that makes eligible R&D and grant opportunities easier to find, improving access to funding.
HBCU research capacity and competitiveness should improve through shared best practices, recommendations, and agency coordination, helping institutions win larger grants and strengthen research programs.
Grant review reforms and increased agency reporting aim to reduce bias and raise accountability, making federal R&D funding decisions fairer for underfunded institutions and minority researchers.
Taxpayers and the federal budget will face higher administrative costs to create, staff, maintain, and publish the Clearinghouse, notifications, quarterly updates, and reports.
Federal agencies and staff may incur new implementation burdens that divert time and resources from existing programs, potentially slowing grant processing or program delivery.
Exempting the Clearinghouse from the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) and Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) reduces public oversight and stakeholder input into Clearinghouse operations.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Creates a DOE-based Clearinghouse to centralize federal research grant opportunities and best practices for HBCUs, requires agency coordination and annual reporting to Congress.
Official title: To establish the Federal Clearinghouse on Grant Opportunities for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and for other purposes.
Introduced April 14, 2026 by French Hill · Last progress April 14, 2026
Creates a federal Clearinghouse within the Department of Education to collect and publish comprehensive information on federal research and grant opportunities for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), to share best practices for building research capacity, and to coordinate agency action. Requires notification to HBCUs and Congress when the Clearinghouse is published, quarterly updates to participating institutions, annual reporting to Congress, and annual agency reviews to identify program gaps and opportunities to implement Clearinghouse recommendations. A group of federal science and research agencies are required to coordinate with the Department of Education, provide personnel as appropriate, and report on identified gaps where Clearinghouse best practices lack an applicable federal grant program. The Clearinghouse and these agency reviews are intended to increase equitable access to federal R&D funding for HBCUs and strengthen institutional capacity for research and innovation.