(Excerpts from Inside Higher Ed News)

• Every year, the Department of Education sends a checklist to colleges and universities reminding them of the various federal laws and regulations they have to comply with, including environmental standards, Title IX and FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
• For many years, that checklist did not mention any reporting requirements for foreign gifts and contracts. As a result, many higher education institutions were caught off guard in 2019 when the department began launching investigations of colleges and universities for noncompliance with the regulations.
• Now, three years later, lawmakers are attempting to strengthen and clarify the reporting mandates for donations that come from abroad. The Bipartisan Innovation Act, versions of which passed the House and Senate this spring, is meant to boost America’s competitiveness in the global economy, but it also includes language that would beef up foreign donation transparency laws for higher education
• The law would require individual faculty and staff members to report gifts from foreign entities and lower the current reporting threshold for institutions from $250,000 per gift to $50,000. 
• Some experts say that underreporting and a general lack of transparency regarding foreign gifts have been problems for decades, and that clearer, more stringent regulations are a welcome step forward.
• Others feel differently. More than 20 higher education advocacy organizations signed letters to Congress protesting the new measures, arguing that they would put an undue burden on institutions that are already struggling to understand and comply with current reporting laws.
• “We agree that we have an obligation to report foreign gifts,” said Sarah Spreitzer, associate vice president for government relations for the American Council on Education, a higher education lobbying group. “The confusing thing is, there are still a lot of questions about what that involves.”
• Higher education lobbyists have opposed provisions in the Innovation Act that would lower the reporting threshold. They argue this would substantially increase the burden of reporting for institutions, as well as for the Department of Education, which Spreitzer says has already struggled to keep up with the volume of reported foreign gifts over the current $250,000
• For Spreitzer, there is a plus side to the Innovation Act’s proposed updates on foreign gift reporting: they would clarify expectations and give stakeholders in higher education a seat at the table through the process of negotiated rule making. She and other higher education lobbyists still oppose the more stringent requirements, but she’s hopeful that a compromise can be