1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Competency-Based Education Act of 2019 or the CBE Act of 2019 . 2. Regulatory relief (a) Repeal (1) Definition of credit hour The definition of the term credit hour in section 600.2 of title 34, Code of Federal Regulations, as added by the final regulations published by the Department of Education in the Federal Register on October 29, 2010 (75 Fed. Reg. 66946). (2) Effect of repeal To the extent that regulations repealed by paragraph (1) amended regulations that were in effect on June 30, 2011, the provisions of the regulations that were in effect on June 30, 2011, and were so amended are restored and revived as if the regulations repealed by such subparagraph had not taken effect. (b) Credit hour The Secretary of Education shall not, on or after the date of enactment of this Act, promulgate or enforce any regulation or rule with respect to the definition of the term credit hour for any purpose under the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.). 3. Definitions Section 103 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1003 ) is amended by adding at the end the following: (25) Competency-based education; competency-based education program (A) Competency-based education Except as otherwise provided, the term competency-based education means education that— (i) measures academic progress and attainment— (I) by direct assessment of a student’s level of mastery of competencies; (II) by expressing a student’s level of mastery of competencies in terms of equivalent credit or clock hours; or (III) by a combination of the methods described in subclauses (I) or (II) and credit or clock hours