Enrolled Bill Summary

            House Bill 2766 amends the Education Code to authorize the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to provide student loan repayment assistance to qualified attorneys who are employed by or offered employment with the office of the attorney general at the time of application to the board and who enter into an agreement with the board to serve with that office for at least three years after the date of the agreement. The service obligation stipulated in each attorney's agreement must be completed during the three years following the date of the agreement unless the board grants the attorney additional time or cancels the obligation for reasons of death or a permanent disability. Failure to fulfill the terms of an agreement makes all assistance paid to the attorney a loan that must be repaid as specified in a promissory note signed by the attorney acknowledging the conditional nature of the assistance.

            The bill prohibits assistance for repayment of a student loan in default at the time of application, establishes a limit on the amount of annual assistance an individual may receive, the number of years in which the assistance may be provided to an individual recipient, and the total amount of assistance that may be disbursed by the board. The cap on the total amount of assistance distributed is the total amount of funds available from various sources, including certain tuition set asides required at each public law school in the state for this purpose.