Sponsors (4)
The bill centralizes and clarifies federal research opportunities and best-practice support for HBCUs—likely improving access, capacity, and interagency alignment—while imposing new administrative costs, potential bureaucracy and oversight trade-offs, and risks of uneven implementation or future spending pressures.
HBCUs (Part B institutions) will get a centralized Clearinghouse plus direct notices and optional quarterly updates that make federal research and capacity-building grant opportunities easier to find, increasing their awareness and chances to secure R&D funding.
Federal agencies will coordinate and can detail staff to support HBCU research, and agencies will identify existing grant programs that can fund Clearinghouse-recommended best practices, aligning funding with evidence-based approaches and broadening support for HBCU research.
HBCUs will receive guidance and best-practice resources to build institutional research capacity and training pipelines, helping them compete more effectively for federal research awards and strengthen student/researcher development.
Taxpayers and federal budgets will incur new administrative and recurring costs to create, staff, and report on the Clearinghouse, plus Education Department and agency staff time to comply with notices and reporting requirements.
The Clearinghouse and added review/reporting processes could create new bureaucracy, slow grant decision-making, and divert agency staff time from program delivery if not well designed or funded.
Exempting related rulemaking and information collection from the Paperwork Reduction Act and the Federal Advisory Committee Act reduces standard public oversight and limits outside stakeholder input into how the Clearinghouse develops guidance.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Introduced March 24, 2026 by Raphael Gamaliel Warnock · Last progress March 24, 2026
Creates a federal Clearinghouse in the Department of Education to identify and share federal research and capacity-building grant opportunities for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and to compile best practices to help HBCUs access and use federal research funds. The Clearinghouse will coordinate with several federal science and research agencies and include materials from existing HBCU planning efforts. Requires the Secretary of Education to notify HBCUs and Congress about the Clearinghouse, produce annual reports, and offer quarterly opt-in updates to institutions. Eight federal agency heads must annually review their grant programs to identify ways to implement Clearinghouse recommendations and report any gaps to Congress; the law does not appropriate new funds or create new grant programs.