By: Kolkhorst, Sheffield, H.B. No. 518
Gonzalez Toureilles, Hodge
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to programs to provide student loan repayment assistance
for certain correctional officers and for certain speech-language
pathologists and audiologists.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 61, Education Code, is amended by adding
Subchapter FF to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER FF. CORRECTIONAL OFFICER LOAN REPAYMENT
ASSISTANCE PILOT PROGRAM
Sec. 61.9781. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "Correctional officer" means a correctional
officer employed in a confinement facility operated by the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice.
(2) "Trust fund" means the correctional officer loan
repayment assistance trust fund.
Sec. 61.9782. REPAYMENT AUTHORIZED. The board shall
establish a pilot program to provide, using money in the trust fund
and in accordance with this subchapter and rules of the board,
assistance in the repayment of student loans for correctional
officers who apply and qualify for the assistance.
Sec. 61.9783. ELIGIBILITY. To be eligible to receive
repayment assistance, a correctional officer must:
(1) have received a baccalaureate degree from Sam
Houston State University or from another general academic teaching
institution that is selected to participate in the program by the
board under Section 61.9789(b) if the board expands the program to
include an additional general academic teaching institution;
(2) establish to the board that:
(A) the repayment assistance will be used to
repay any part of a student loan received by the correctional
officer to cover the officer's cost of attendance in connection
with enrollment in junior-level or senior-level course work in the
baccalaureate degree program at the institution;
(B) during the period of the correctional
officer's enrollment at the institution as described by Paragraph
(A), the officer:
(i) was employed full-time as a
correctional officer in this state;
(ii) was classified as a resident of this
state under Subchapter B, Chapter 54;
(iii) established financial need as
determined by board rule; and
(iv) maintained good academic standing at
the institution as determined by board rule; and
(C) the correctional officer has not committed an
offense:
(i) under Chapter 39, Penal Code;
(ii) under Section 38.11 or 38.114, Penal
Code;
(iii) under any other provision of the
Penal Code in which the victim was a person in the custody of the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice at the time the offense
occurred; or
(iv) the elements of which are equivalent
to a criminal offense under the law of another state, federal law,
or the law of a foreign government;
(3) complete at least two full years of employment as a
full-time correctional officer in this state not later than the
second anniversary of the date of the person's graduation from the
institution; and
(4) comply with any other requirements adopted by
board rule under this subchapter.
Sec. 61.9784. ELIGIBLE LOANS. (a) The board may provide
repayment assistance for the repayment of any student loan received
by an eligible correctional officer through any lender for the cost
of attendance for enrollment at Sam Houston State University or at
another general academic teaching institution that is selected by
the board to participate in the program under Section 61.9789(b).
(b) The board may withhold repayment assistance for a
student loan that is in default at the time of the correctional
officer's application.
(c) Subject to Sections 61.9785 and 61.9788, in each state
fiscal biennium the board shall attempt to allocate all funds
available in the trust fund for the purpose of providing repayment
assistance under this subchapter.
Sec. 61.9785. REPAYMENT. (a) The board shall deliver any
repayment under this subchapter in a lump sum:
(1) payable to both the lender or other holder of the
loan and the correctional officer; or
(2) on the correctional officer's behalf directly to
the lender or other holder of the loan.
(b) A repayment under this subchapter may be applied to any
amount due in connection with the loan.
(c) The board may grant prior conditional approval to a
correctional officer who completes each eligibility requirement
under Section 61.9783 other than the requirement under Section
61.9783(3) and may reserve money in the trust fund for disbursement
under this subchapter on the officer's completion of that
requirement.
Sec. 61.9786. RULES. (a) The board shall adopt rules
necessary to administer this subchapter. The board may consult
with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to assist the board in
establishing priorities among eligible correctional officers for
repayment assistance.
(b) The board shall distribute to Sam Houston State
University, any other general academic teaching institution that is
selected by the board to participate in the program under Section
61.9789(b), each public junior college, and appropriate state
agencies and professional associations copies of the rules adopted
under this section and other pertinent information relating to this
subchapter.
Sec. 61.9787. AMOUNT OF REPAYMENT ASSISTANCE. (a) The loan
repayment amount for one year of full-time employment as a
correctional officer beginning two years after graduation from Sam
Houston State University or from another general academic teaching
institution that is selected by the board to participate in the
program under Section 61.9789(b) may not exceed the cost of
attendance for the officer to enroll in 30 semester credit hours of
junior-level or senior-level course work at the institution, as
applicable.
(b) The total amount of repayment assistance distributed by
the board under this subchapter may not exceed the total amount of
gifts and grants accepted by the board for repayment assistance,
legislative appropriations for repayment assistance, and other
funds available to the board for purposes of this subchapter.
Sec. 61.9788. TRUST FUND. (a) The board shall award
repayment assistance under this subchapter from the amount
available in the trust fund. The trust fund is established outside
the treasury but is held in trust by the comptroller. Money in the
trust fund may be spent without appropriation and only to fund the
pilot program. Interest and income from the assets of the trust
fund shall be credited to and deposited in the trust fund. In each
state fiscal year the board may spend from the trust fund to cover
the costs of administering this subchapter an amount not to exceed
2.5 percent of the total amount of money deposited into the trust
fund in that fiscal year.
(b) The board may solicit and accept gifts and grants from
any public or private source for the purposes of this subchapter and
shall deposit a gift or grant to the credit of the trust fund.
(c) The legislature may appropriate money to the trust fund.
Sec. 61.9789. EVALUATION OF PILOT PROGRAM. (a) The board
shall evaluate the effectiveness of the pilot program established
under this subchapter and report the results of the evaluation to
the legislature not later than December 31 of each even-numbered
year.
(b) If the board determines that expansion of the program
would enhance the effectiveness of the program or improve the
board's ability to evaluate the program, the board by rule may
expand the program to include as eligible to receive repayment
assistance under Section 61.9783 a correctional officer who:
(1) received a baccalaureate degree from a general
academic teaching institution other than Sam Houston State
University that is located near a confinement facility operated by
the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and that is selected by the
board to participate in the program; and
(2) meets all other eligibility requirements
prescribed by or adopted under Section 61.9783.
(c) If the board by rule expands the program under
Subsection (b) to include graduates of one or more other general
academic teaching institutions, the board shall include in the
report under Subsection (a) information regarding the
effectiveness of the expansion and the name of each additional
general academic teaching institution selected to participate in
the program.
Sec. 61.9790. TERMINATION OF PILOT PROGRAM. The board may
not award repayment assistance under this subchapter to pay the
costs of enrollment in an academic year after the 2015-2016
academic year. On January 1, 2019, the trust fund is abolished and
any amount remaining in the trust fund shall be transferred to the
general revenue fund.
SECTION 2. Chapter 61, Education Code, is amended by adding
Subchapter GG to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER GG. REPAYMENT OF CERTAIN SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGIST
AND AUDIOLOGIST EDUCATION LOANS
Sec. 61.9801. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "Audiologist" means a person licensed as an
audiologist under Chapter 401, Occupations Code.
(2) "Communicative disorders program" means a
graduate degree program in audiology or speech-language pathology
accredited by the Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology
and Speech-Language Pathology.
(3) "Public school" means a public preschool or
primary or secondary school in this state.
(4) "Speech-language pathologist" means a person
licensed as a speech-language pathologist under Chapter 401,
Occupations Code.
Sec. 61.9802. REPAYMENT ASSISTANCE AUTHORIZED. The board
shall provide, in accordance with this subchapter and board rules,
assistance in the repayment of student loans for speech-language
pathologists and audiologists who apply and qualify for assistance.
Sec. 61.9803. ELIGIBILITY. (a) To be eligible to receive
repayment assistance, a speech-language pathologist or an
audiologist must:
(1) apply to the board; and
(2) at the time the speech-language pathologist or
audiologist applies for the assistance:
(A) have been employed as a speech-language
pathologist or as an audiologist, as applicable, for at least one
year by, and be currently employed full-time in that capacity by, a
public school; or
(B) have been employed as a faculty member of a
communicative disorders program at an institution of higher
education for at least one year, and be currently employed
full-time in that capacity at such an institution.
(b) The board by rule may provide for repayment assistance
on a pro rata basis for speech-language pathologists and
audiologists employed part-time by a public school or institution
of higher education.
Sec. 61.9804. LIMITATION. (a) On qualifying for the
assistance, a speech-language pathologist or an audiologist may
receive repayment assistance grants for each year of employment,
not to exceed five years, by:
(1) a public school; or
(2) a communicative disorders program at an
institution of higher education.
(b) The amount of repayment assistance grants that a
speech-language pathologist or an audiologist may receive for each
year of employment by a public school or a communicative disorders
program at an institution of higher education may not exceed 20
percent of the speech-language pathologist's or audiologist's total
principal amount of student loans.
(c) The total amount of repayment assistance grants
received by a speech-language pathologist or an audiologist under
this subchapter may not exceed $30,000 for an eligible recipient
who holds a master's degree but not a doctoral degree, or $45,000
for an eligible recipient who holds a doctoral degree.
Sec. 61.9805. ELIGIBLE LOANS. (a) The board may provide
repayment assistance for the repayment of any student loan for
education at an institution of higher education, including loans
for undergraduate education, received by a speech-language
pathologist or an audiologist through any lender.
(b) The board may not provide repayment assistance for a
student loan that is in default at the time of the speech-language
pathologist's or audiologist's application.
(c) Each state fiscal biennium, the board shall attempt to
provide repayment assistance in amounts sufficient to use all the
money appropriated to the board for that biennium for the purpose of
providing repayment assistance under this subchapter.
Sec. 61.9806. REPAYMENT. (a) The board shall deliver any
repayment made under this subchapter in a lump sum payable to the
lender and the speech-language pathologist or audiologist, in
accordance with any applicable federal law.
(b) A repayment made under this subchapter may be applied
only to the principal amount of the loan.
Sec. 61.9807. ADVISORY COMMITTEES. The board may appoint
advisory committees to assist the board in administering this
subchapter.
Sec. 61.9808. ACCEPTANCE OF GIFTS. The board may accept
gifts, grants, and donations for the purposes of this subchapter.
Sec. 61.9809. RULES. (a) The board shall adopt rules
necessary for the administration of this subchapter.
(b) The board shall distribute a copy of the rules adopted
under this section and pertinent information regarding this
subchapter to:
(1) each institution of higher education;
(2) any appropriate state agency; and
(3) any appropriate professional association.
SECTION 3. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
shall adopt the rules for repayment assistance under Subchapter FF,
Chapter 61, Education Code, as added by this Act, not later than
December 1, 2009.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2009.