Enforcement by the Office for Civil Rights

(a) Referral to Office for Civil Rights The Secretary shall refer any complaint alleging a violation of section 101(a) to the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education for an investigation. (b) Process for referral Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall develop and implement a procedure for receiving a complaint alleging a violation of section 101(a). (c) Failure To comply In the event that a program has failed to comply with section 101(a), the Secretary shall carry out at least one of the following: (1) Withhold from such program, in whole or in part, further payments (including payments for administrative costs) under an applicable program (as such term is defined in section 400(c) of the General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1221(c))) in accordance with section 455 of such Act (20 U.S.C. 1234d). (2) Enter into a compliance agreement in accordance with section 457 of the General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1234f). (3) Issue a complaint to compel compliance of such program through a cease and desist order, in the same manner the Secretary is authorized to take such action under section 456 of the General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1234e). (d) Cessation of withholding of funds If the Secretary determines (whether by certification or other appropriate evidence) that a program that is subject to the withholding of payments under subsection (c)(1) of this section has cured the failure providing the basis for the withholding of payments on a date that is within 1 year from the date on which such payments were first withheld, the Secretary shall— (1) cease the withholding of payments with respect to that program under such subsection; and (2) reimburse all the withheld payments under such subsection to such program. (e) Withheld funds The funds appropriated or made available for the payments that were withheld under subsection (c)(1) shall be available for expenditure to that program pursuant to this subsection for up to 1 year from the date upon which the determination in subsection (d) was made. (f) Rule of construction Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the Secretary’s authority under the General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1221 et seq.).