# 119-hr-2271: Change of Ownership and Conversion Improvement Act

119-hr-2271, Change of Ownership and Conversion Improvement Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Owens, Burgess [R-UT-4] (R-UT); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-10-16).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2271
- As of: 2026-10-16
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-2271
- Congress: 119
- Title: Change of Ownership and Conversion Improvement Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-03-21
- Sponsor: Rep. Owens, Burgess [R-UT-4] (R-UT)
- Cosponsors: 0
- Policy area: Education
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-10-16

## Summary

**Federal review of college ownership changes** would be tightened and sped up to protect student aid and make conversions from for-profit to nonprofit or public status more transparent. The bill would create a pretransaction review, require largely 90-day decisions, and set a five-year monitoring and fee program for approved conversions. - Students and families would get stronger safeguards against risky ownership changes because buyers would need to demonstrate financial and administrative capacity and conversions must meet nonprofit criteria. Reviews could be deemed approved if no decision arrives within 90 days and no extension is justified. - Institutions would face new application and monitoring fees to fund processing and oversight, including a $120,000 cap per transaction, a 0.15% fee for non-conversion reviews, and a 0.30% fee for conversion reviews. Conversion approvals would trigger a five-year annual monitoring fee capped at $60,000 per year. - The Department of Education and the IRS would share oversight work. Conversion fees are split so 50% funds Education reviews and 50% is remitted to the IRS to support tax-exempt determinations and compliance. Note: the bill would also require public notice of required documents, annual reporting on review performance, and a Government Accountability Office evaluation within five years.

## Provisions PRIA read

- Faster, clearer college ownership reviews: benefit, low. This bill would set a 90‑day deadline to approve or deny a materially complete pretransaction or ownership‑change filing. The Secretary could extend for good cause in writing, up to one month at a time, for no more than 12 months. If no decision is made in 90 days and no good cause is found, the fi…
- New fees on college ownership changes: cost, medium. Institutions would pay fees when filing to convert or change owners. Conversion or pretransaction‑for‑conversion filings would pay 0.30% of covered revenue, capped at $120,000, with half sent to the IRS. Non‑conversion ownership‑change or pretransaction reviews would pay 0.15%, capped at $120,000,…
- Stronger guardrails on nonprofit conversions: mixed, low. Schools seeking to convert to nonprofit or public status would not be able to market themselves as such until four approvals are in place: Education, a recognized accreditor, the State, and the IRS for nonprofit status. After approval, converted schools would face five years of monitoring focused o…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-6976: Duty Status Reform Act
- 119-hr-5582: Patients Deserve Price Tags Act
- 119-hr-2725: Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2025
- 119-hr-2570: Maximum Pressure Act
- 119-hr-4317: PBM Reform Act of 2025
- 119-hr-7613: ALERT Act

## Sources
- [119-hr-2271 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/2271)

## Related
- [119-hr-6976: Duty Status Reform Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-6976)
- [119-hr-5582: Patients Deserve Price Tags Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5582)
- [119-hr-2725: Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2725)
- [119-hr-2570: Maximum Pressure Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2570)
- [119-hr-4317: PBM Reform Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4317)
- [119-hr-7613: ALERT Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7613)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2271 (as of 2026-10-16).