Assigned to APPROP FOR COMMITTEE
ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Fifth Legislature, Second Regular Session
FACT SHEET FOR S.B. 1731
higher education; 2022-2023.
Purpose
Makes statutory and session law changes relating to higher education necessary to
implement the FY 2023 state budget.
Background
The Arizona Constitution prohibits substantive law from being included in the general
appropriations, capital outlay appropriations and supplemental appropriations bills. However, it is
often necessary to make statutory and session law changes to effectuate the budget. Thus, separate
bills called budget reconciliation bills (BRBs) are introduced to enact these provisions. Because
BRBs contain substantive law changes, the Arizona Constitution provides that they become
effective on the general effective date, unless an emergency clause is enacted.
S.B. 1731 contains the budget reconciliation provisions for changes relating to higher
education.
Provisions
Out of Community College District (CCD) Funding
1. Determines, beginning in FY 2023, the amount an out-of-CCD county must pay to a CCD out
of the total out-of-CCD reimbursement formula amount to be equal to the product of:
a) the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) students attending CCD classes from the out-of-CCD
county for the preceding year; and
b) the amount of the CCD's primary property tax levy from the prior year divided by the total
number of FTE students enrolled in the CCD for the current year.
2. Requires, to be paid to the CCD from the state General Fund (state GF) beginning in FY 2023,
an amount equal to the total out-of-CCD reimbursement formula amount minus the amount
paid by the out-of-CCD county.
3. Directs the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) Staff to include, in the annual out-of-CCD
county reimbursement notifications, the respective amounts an out-of-CCD county and the
state must pay to each CCD.
4. Directs JLBC Staff, within 10 days after the general effective date, to:
a) revise the out-of-CCD calculations for FY 2023;
b) notify each out-of-CCD county board of supervisors of the revised amount it must
reimburse to each CCD for FY 2023; and FACT SHEET
S.B. 1731
Page 2
c) notify each CCD that is eligible for reimbursement of the revised reimbursement amount
from each county and the state for FY 2023.
Arizona Veterinary Loan Assistance Program (Veterinary Assistance Program)
5. Establishes the Veterinary Assistance Program within the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR)
and the Arizona Veterinary Loan Assistance Fund (Veterinary Assistance Fund), consisting of
legislative appropriations, administered by ABOR.
6. Specifies that Veterinary Assistance Fund monies are continuously appropriated and exempt
from lapsing.
7. Requires ABOR to use Veterinary Assistance Fund monies for the Veterinary Assistance
Program and allows ABOR to retain up to three percent for program administration costs.
8. Allows a person to apply to ABOR to participate in the Veterinary Assistance Program if the
person obtains a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from a veterinary college after January
1, 2023, and signs an agreement to:
a) for the following four years, remain and work as a full-time veterinarian in Arizona; and
b) for at least two of the four years, work in a nonprofit, county or municipal shelter or an
agricultural practice in an area designated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as having
a shortage.
9. Requires ABOR, at the conclusion of the four-year commitment, to determine if the
veterinarian has satisfied the program agreement terms.
10. Directs ABOR to distribute Veterinary Assistance Fund monies to a veterinarian who satisfies
program agreement terms in an amount equal to the lesser of $100,000 or the veterinarian's
outstanding veterinary college educational loan balance.
11. Requires ABOR to distribute Veterinary Assistance Fund monies on a first-come, first-served
basis, subject to the availability of monies and legislative appropriation.
12. Requires ABOR, by October 1 of each year, to:
a) compile a report that details how Veterinary Assistance Fund monies are being spent; and
b) submit the report to the Governor, President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of
Representatives and provide a copy to the Secretary of State.
13. Authorizes ABOR to adopt rules to administer the Veterinary Assistance Program and
Veterinary Assistance Fund.
14. Defines terms.
Tuition Scholarship for the Spouses of Military Veterans
15. Establishes the Spouses of Military Veterans Tuition Scholarship Fund (Spouses of Veterans
Tuition Fund), consisting of legislative appropriations, administered by ABOR. FACT SHEET
S.B. 1731
Page 3
16. Specifies that Spouses of Veterans Tuition Fund monies are continuously appropriated and
exempt from lapsing.
17. Directs ABOR to use Spouses of Veterans Tuition Fund monies, subject to availability, to
award a tuition scholarship to a person who:
a) enrolls in an Arizona public university or community college;
b) is the spouse of an honorably discharged veteran of the U.S. armed forces;
c) is classified as an in-state student;
d) is an Arizona resident at the time of application and while receiving the tuition scholarship;
e) completes and submits the Free Application for Federal Student Aid for each year of the
tuition scholarship;
f) complies with the standards of satisfactory academic progress of the university or
community college in which the person enrolls; and
g) completes a federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 release form to
authorize the release of personally-identifiable information required for continued
eligibility determinations for each university or community college in which the person
enrolls.
18. Specifies that a tuition scholarship amount is equal to the university's or community college's
tuition and mandatory fees, reduced by any federal aid scholarships, public grants or other
financial gifts, grants or aid the person receives.
19. Limits the tuition scholarship to four academic years or eight semesters and requires the
scholarship to be used only:
a) for a certificate, an associate degree or a baccalaureate degree; and
b) to pay tuition and mandatory fees at an Arizona public university or community college.
20. Requires the spouse of a veteran to submit proof of their spouse's honorable discharge or
general discharge under honorable conditions and requires the Arizona Department of
Veterans' Services to verify that the person is the spouse of an honorably discharged veteran.
21. Specifies that a person who meets the eligibility requirements may apply to ABOR for a tuition
scholarship in a manner prescribed by ABOR and requires ABOR to verify eligibility before
awarding a scholarship.
22. Prohibits ABOR from awarding a subsequent tuition scholarship to a person who no longer
meets eligibility requirements, until the person submits documentation showing that the person
satisfies the requirements.
23. Specifies that tuition scholarships must be awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis and that
ABOR may not award a scholarship if there are insufficient monies in the Spouses of Veterans
Tuition Fund.
24. Authorizes ABOR to adopt rules to administer the tuition scholarships.
FACT SHEET
S.B. 1731
Page 4
Mining, Mineral and Natural Resources Educational Museum (Mining Museum)
25. Requires, within 30 days of the general effective date, the Arizona Department of
Administration to convey title and fee ownership of the Mining Museum's real property and
improvements to the University of Arizona for nominal consideration.
26. Specifies that the University of Arizona must operate, manage and maintain the Mining
Museum at the location where it is housed on August 9, 2017, as statutorily prescribed.
Miscellaneous
27. Continues, for FY 2023, to allow the required state match to be less than two dollars for each
dollar raised by the surcharge on student registration fees assessed pursuant to the Arizona
Financial Aid Trust Fund.
28. Specifies that state aid for CCD science, technology, engineering and mathematics and
workforce development programs in FY 2023 is as prescribed in the FY 2023 General
Appropriations Act.
29. Specifies that operating state aid for CCDs in FY 2023 is as prescribed in the FY 2023 General
Appropriations Act.
30. Makes technical and conforming changes.
31. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Research
June 20, 2022
LB/KJA/slp