SC H4604

Requires public higher education institutions to publish evaluation criteria, scoring categories, weighting systems, and eligibility thresholds before each admissions and hiring cycle, prohibiting the use of undisclosed criteria

Mandates annual public reporting of applicant pool demographics versus admitted students, hiring pools versus faculty hires, and retention/graduation/tenure/promotion outcomes

Requires evaluators to complete bias-prevention training and document reason codes tied to published criteria for all adverse decisions, with records retained for review

Allows applicants and job candidates to request anonymized comparative scorecards and challenge procedural errors through an appeals process

Directs the Commission on Higher Education to audit institutions with unexplained disparities, review decisions for adherence to published criteria, and issue penalties for noncompliance