SLS 22RS-2547 ENGROSSED
2022 Regular Session
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 49
BY SENATOR FIELDS
LEGISLATION. Expresses legislative intent regarding Act 457 of the 2021 Regular
Legislative Session establishing the M.J. Foster Promise Program.
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2 To express the legislative intent with regard to the use of the term financial aid to exclude
3 student loans and federal work study programs.
4 WHEREAS, the legislature passed Senate Bill 148 in the 2021 Regular Legislative
5 Session, which was signed into law by Governor Edwards as Act 457 of the 2021 Regular
6 Legislative Session to establish the M.J. Foster Promise Program; and
7 WHEREAS, the M.J. Foster Promise Program was established to reduce the financial
8 barriers for students, who are twenty-one years of age or older, to earn both short-term
9 industry-based credentials and associate degrees in high-demand, high-wage jobs; and
10 WHEREAS, the M.J. Foster Promise Program was also established with a capped
11 total investment of ten million five hundred thousand dollars annually; and
12 WHEREAS, the M.J. Foster Promise Program was enacted to provide financial
13 assistance awards to help defray the costs of a postsecondary education for adults who have
14 been out of high school for several years and have realized the need to further their
15 education; and
16 WHEREAS, the M.J. Foster Promise Program requires such students to first utilize
17 federal, state, and institutional financial aid prior to utilizing the program award to ensure
18 the funding of the program assists a maximum number of students; and
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SLS 22RS-2547 ENGROSSED
1 WHEREAS, the term "financial aid" is sometimes broadly defined to include monies
2 from federal student loans and the federal work study program; and
3 WHEREAS, the purpose of the M.J. Foster Promise Program was to remove financial
4 barriers to education and it was never the intent that such students should be required to
5 incur debt through student loans or have their awards reduced by the amounts earned through
6 their labor funded by federal work study dollars; and
7 WHEREAS, R.S. 24:177 provides that the Louisiana Legislature may express the
8 intended meaning of a law in a duly adopted concurrent resolution.
9 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Louisiana Legislature does hereby
10 express its intent that the term "financial aid", as used in R.S. 17:3047, et seq., shall not be
11 interpreted to include monies from student loans or the federal work study program.
12 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
13 commissioner of higher education, the chairman of the Louisiana Board of Regents, the
14 president of the Louisiana State University System, the president of the Southern University
15 System, and the president of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Cheryl Serrett.
DIGEST
SCR 49 Engrossed 2022 Regular Session Fields
Expresses legislative intent regarding Act 457 of the 2021 Regular Legislative Session
establishing the M.J. Foster Promise Program.
Summary of Amendments Adopted by Senate
Committee Amendments Proposed by Senate Committee on Education to the
original bill
1. Adds intent relative to the award being developed to assist students age 21
and older.
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