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General Assembly Committee Bill No. 5895
January Session, 2021
LCO No. 3789
Referred to Committee on HIGHER EDUCATION AND
EMPLOYMENT ADVANCEMENT
Introduced by:
(HED)
AN ACT ESTABLISHING A TASK FORCE ON THE REDUCTION OF
STUDENT LOAN DEBT.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (Effective from passage) (a) There is established a task force 1
to study the amount of student loan debt incurred by students and 2
graduates in the state and options available for reducing such debt. Such 3
study shall include, but need not be limited to, an examination of (1) the 4
average amount of student loan debt incurred by students and 5
graduates in the state compared to the average amount incurred by 6
students and graduates in other states in the region and nationally, (2) 7
possible reasons for any differences between such average amounts of 8
student loan debt, (3) options available to the state for reducing the 9
amount of student loan debt incurred by students and graduates, and 10
(4) recommendations for programs to reduce the average amount of 11
student loan debt in the state. 12
(b) The task force shall consist of the following members: 13
(1) Two appointed by the speaker of the House of Representatives, 14
one of whom is a financial aid officer at a four-year public institution of 15
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higher education in the state and one of whom is a financial aid officer 16
at an independent institution of higher education in the state; 17
(2) Two appointed by the president pro tempore of the Senate, one of 18
whom is a financial aid officer at a regional community-technical college 19
in the state and one of whom works in the banking industry and has 20
expertise in managing student loans; 21
(3) One appointed by the majority leader of the House of 22
Representatives, who is a current student at an institution of higher 23
education in the state; 24
(4) One appointed by the majority leader of the Senate, who is a 25
parent of a current student at an institution of higher education in the 26
state; 27
(5) One appointed by the minority leader of the House of 28
Representatives, who is a recent graduate of an institution of higher 29
education in the state; 30
(6) One appointed by the minority leader of the Senate, who is a 31
parent of a recent graduate of an institution of higher education in the 32
state; 33
(7) The executive director of the Office of Higher Education, or the 34
executive director's designee; 35
(8) The executive director of the Connecticut Higher Education 36
Supplemental Loan Authority, or the executive director's designee; and 37
(9) The chairpersons, vice-chairpersons and ranking members of the 38
joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of 39
matters relating to higher education and employment advancement, or 40
their designees. 41
(c) Any member of the task force appointed under subdivision (1), 42
(2), (3), (4), (5) or (6) of subsection (b) of this section may be a member 43
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of the General Assembly. 44
(d) All initial appointments to the task force shall be made not later 45
than thirty days after the effective date of this section. Any vacancy shall 46
be filled by the appointing authority. 47
(e) The speaker of the House of Representatives and the president pro 48
tempore of the Senate shall select the chairpersons of the task force from 49
among the members of the task force. Such chairpersons shall schedule 50
the first meeting of the task force, which shall be held not later than sixty 51
days after the effective date of this section. 52
(f) The administrative staff of the joint standing committee of the 53
General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to higher 54
education shall serve as administrative staff of the task force. 55
(g) Not later than January 1, 2022, the task force shall submit a report 56
on its findings and recommendations to the joint standing committee of 57
the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to higher 58
education, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of the 59
general statutes. The task force shall terminate on the date that it 60
submits such report or January 1, 2022, whichever is later. 61
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage New section
Statement of Purpose:
To establish a task force to study the amount of student loan debt of
students and graduates in the state.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]
Co-Sponsors: REP. TURCO, 27th Dist.; REP. WINKLER, 56th Dist.
H.B. 5895
Committee Bill No. 5895
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