20 U.S.C. § 7974 — Preemption

Page 1659 TITLE 20—EDUCATION § 7974 1 See References in Text note below. Federal agency or the contractor of such agen- cy providing the services to children. (2) Administrative proceeding A civil penalty may be assessed in a written notice, or an administrative compliance order may be issued under paragraph (1), by the Sec- retary only after an opportunity for a hearing in accordance with section 554 of title 5. Be- fore making such assessment or issuing such order, or both, the Secretary shall give writ- ten notice of the assessment or order to such person by certified mail with return receipt and provide information in the notice of an op- portunity to request in writing, not later than 30 days after the date of receipt of such notice, such hearing. The notice shall reasonably de- scribe the violation and be accompanied with the procedures for such hearing and a simple form that may be used to request such hearing if such person desires to use such form. If a hearing is requested, the Secretary shall es- tablish by such certified notice the time and place for such hearing, which shall be located, to the greatest extent possible, at a location convenient to such person. The Secretary (or the Secretary’s designee) and such person may consult to arrange a suitable date and location where appropriate. (3) Circumstances affecting penalty or order In determining the amount of the civil pen- alty or the nature of the administrative com- pliance order, the Secretary shall take into account, as appropriate— (A) the nature, circumstances, extent, and gravity of the violation; (B) with respect to the violator, any good faith efforts to comply, the importance of achieving early and permanent compliance, the ability to pay or comply, the effect of the penalty or order on the ability to con- tinue operation, any prior history of the same kind of violation, the degree of culpa- bility, and any demonstration of willingness to comply with the prohibitions of this sec- tion in a timely manner; and (C) such other matters as justice may re- quire. (4) Modification The Secretary may, as appropriate, com- promise, modify, or remit, with or without conditions, any civil penalty or administrative compliance order. In the case of a civil pen- alty, the amount, as finally determined by the Secretary or agreed upon in compromise, may be deducted from any sums that the United States or the agencies or instrumentalities of the United States owe to the person against whom the penalty is assessed. (5) Petition for review Any person aggrieved by a penalty assessed or an order issued, or both, by the Secretary under this section may file a petition for judi- cial review of the order with the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit or for any other circuit in which the person resides or transacts business. Such per- son shall provide a copy of the petition to the Secretary or the Secretary’s designee. The pe- tition shall be filed within 30 days after the Secretary’s assessment or order, or both, are final and have been provided to such person by certified mail. The Secretary shall promptly provide to the court a certified copy of the transcript of any hearing held under this sec- tion and a copy of the notice or order. (6) Failure to comply If a person fails to pay an assessment of a civil penalty or comply with an order, after the assessment or order, or both, are final under this section, or after a court has entered a final judgment under paragraph (5) in favor of the Secretary, the Attorney General, at the request of the Secretary, shall recover the amount of the civil penalty (plus interest at prevailing rates from the day the assessment or order, or both, are final) or enforce the order in an action brought in the appropriate district court of the United States. In such ac- tion, the validity and appropriateness of the penalty or order or the amount of the penalty shall not be subject to review. (Pub. L. 89–10, title VIII, § 8573, formerly title IV, § 4303, as added Pub. L. 107–110, title IV, § 401, Jan. 8, 2002, 115 Stat. 1774; renumbered title IX, § 9563, renumbered title VIII, § 8573, and amended Pub. L. 114–95, title IV, § 4001(a)(1), (4)(A), (B), (C)(ii), title VIII, § 8001(a)(9), Dec. 10, 2015, 129 Stat. 1966, 2088, 2089.) Editorial Notes CODIFICATION Section was classified to section 7183 of this title prior to renumbering by Pub. L. 114–95. AMENDMENTS 2015—Subsec. (b)(1). Pub. L. 114–95, § 4001(a)(1)(A), sub- stituted ‘‘early childhood education programs’’ for ‘‘early childhood development (Head Start) services’’. Subsec. (c)(2). Pub. L. 114–95, § 4001(a)(1)(B)(i), sub- stituted ‘‘education programs’’ for ‘‘development serv- ices’’ in heading. Subsec. (c)(2)(A). Pub. L. 114–95, § 4001(a)(1)(B)(ii), sub- stituted ‘‘education programs’’ for ‘‘development (Head Start) services’’. Subsec. (e)(3)(C). Pub. L. 114–95, § 4001(a)(1)(C), added subpar. (C) and struck out former subpar. (C) which was missing an opening parenthesis before the subpar. des- ignation and read as follows: ‘‘such other matters as justice may require.’’ Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE OF 2015 AMENDMENT Amendment by Pub. L. 114–95 effective Dec. 10, 2015, except with respect to certain noncompetitive pro- grams and competitive programs, see section 5 of Pub. L. 114–95, set out as a note under section 6301 of this title. § 7974. Preemption Nothing in this subpart 1 is intended to pre- empt any provision of law of a State or political subdivision of a State that is more restrictive than a provision of this subpart.1 (Pub. L. 89–10, title VIII, § 8574, formerly title IV, § 4304, as added Pub. L. 107–110, title IV, § 401, Page 1660 TITLE 20—EDUCATION § 7981 1 So in original. Probably should be ‘‘subsections’’. Jan. 8, 2002, 115 Stat. 1776; renumbered title IX, § 9564, renumbered title VIII, § 8574, Pub. L. 114–95, title IV, § 4001(a)(4)(A), (B), (C)(ii), title VIII, § 8001(a)(9), Dec. 10, 2015, 129 Stat. 1966, 2088, 2089.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT This subpart, referred to in text, was in the original ‘‘this part’’, and was translated as reading ‘‘this sub- part’’, to reflect the probable intent of Congress. Pub. L. 114–95 redesignated part C of title IV of Pub. L. 89–10 as subpart 5 of part F of title VIII of Pub. L. 89–10, which is classified to this subpart. CODIFICATION Section was classified to section 7184 of this title prior to renumbering by Pub. L. 114–95. PART G—EVALUATIONS Editorial Notes CODIFICATION Pub. L. 114–95, title VIII, § 8001(a), (b)(1), Dec. 10, 2015, 129 Stat. 2088, 2089, redesignated part F (§ 7941) of sub- chapter IX of this chapter as part G of this subchapter. § 7981. Evaluations (a) Reservation of funds Except as provided in subsection 1 (b) and (e), the Secretary, in consultation with the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences, may re- serve not more than 0.5 percent of the amount appropriated for each program authorized under this chapter to carry out activities under this section. If the Secretary elects to make a res- ervation under this subsection, the reserved amounts— (1) shall first be used by the Secretary, act- ing through the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences, to— (A) conduct comprehensive, high-quality evaluations of the programs that— (i) are consistent with the evaluation plan under subsection (d); and (ii) primarily include impact evaluations that use experimental or quasi-experi- mental designs, where practicable and ap- propriate, and other rigorous methodolo- gies that permit the strongest possible causal inferences; (B) conduct studies of the effectiveness of the programs and the administrative impact of the programs on schools and local edu- cational agencies; and (C) widely disseminate evaluation findings under this section related to programs au- thorized under this chapter— (i) in a timely fashion; (ii) in forms that are understandable, easily accessible, usable, and adaptable for use in the improvement of educational practice; (iii) through electronic transfer and other means, such as posting, as available, to the websites of State educational agen- cies, local educational agencies, the Insti- tute of Education Sciences, or the Depart- ment, or in another relevant place; and (iv) in a manner that promotes the utili- zation of such findings; and (2) may be used by the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Institute of Edu- cation Sciences— (A) to evaluate the aggregate short- and long-term effects and cost efficiencies across— (i) Federal programs assisted or author- ized under this chapter; and (ii) related Federal early childhood edu- cation programs, preschool programs, ele- mentary school programs, and secondary school programs, under any other Federal law; (B) to increase the usefulness of the eval- uations conducted under this section by im- proving the quality, timeliness, efficiency, and use of information relating to perform- ance to promote continuous improvement of programs assisted or authorized under this chapter; and (C) to assist recipients of grants under such programs in collecting and analyzing data and other activities related to con- ducting high-quality evaluations under para- graph (1). (b) Subchapter I The Secretary, acting through the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences, shall use funds authorized under section 6302(e) of this title to carry out evaluation activities under this section related to subchapter I, and shall not reserve any other money from such sub- chapter for evaluation. (c) Consolidation Notwithstanding any other provision of this section or section 6302(e) of this title, the Sec- retary, in consultation with the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences— (1) may consolidate the funds reserved under subsections (a) and (b) for purposes of carrying out the activities under subsection (a)(1); and (2) shall not be required to evaluate under subsection (a)(1) each program authorized under this chapter each year. (d) Evaluation plan The Director of the Institute of Education Sciences, shall, on a biennial basis, develop, sub- mit to Congress, and make publicly available an evaluation plan, that— (1) describes the specific activities that will be carried out under subsection (a) for the 2- year period applicable to the plan, and the timelines of such activities; (2) contains the results of the activities car- ried out under subsection (a) for the most re- cent 2-year period; and (3) describes how programs authorized under this chapter will be regularly evaluated. (e) Evaluation activities authorized elsewhere If, under any other provision of this chapter, funds are authorized to be reserved or used for evaluation activities with respect to a program, the Secretary may not reserve additional funds