By Greenberg, Rangel, Thompson, Tillery, H.B. No. 1689
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to student loan repayment assistance for certain
1-3 child-care workers.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Chapter 61, Education Code, is amended by adding
1-6 Subchapter T to read as follows:
1-7 SUBCHAPTER T. EARLY CHILDHOOD CHILD-CARE WORKER
1-8 STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM
1-9 Sec. 61.871. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
1-10 (1) "Child-care facility" has the meaning assigned by
1-11 Section 42.002, Human Resources Code.
1-12 (2) "Early childhood child-care worker" means a person
1-13 who works more than 30 hours a week in a child-care facility,
1-14 whether as an employee, owner, or volunteer, and whose duties
1-15 consist primarily of providing child care or education to children
1-16 less than four years of age.
1-17 Sec. 61.872. LOAN REPAYMENT ASSISTANCE AUTHORIZED. The
1-18 board shall provide, in accordance with this subchapter and board
1-19 rules, assistance in the repayment of eligible student loans for
1-20 persons who apply and qualify for the assistance.
1-21 Sec. 61.873. ELIGIBILITY FOR ASSISTANCE. To be eligible to
1-22 receive loan repayment assistance under this subchapter, a person
1-23 must:
1-24 (1) hold an associate, baccalaureate, or graduate
1-25 degree in early childhood development or the equivalent from a
2-1 public or private institution of higher education accredited by a
2-2 recognized accrediting agency; and
2-3 (2) enter into an agreement to serve as an early
2-4 childhood child-care worker as provided by Section 61.875.
2-5 Sec. 61.874. ELIGIBLE LOANS. (a) A person may receive loan
2-6 repayment assistance under this subchapter for the repayment of any
2-7 student loan for education at any public or private institution of
2-8 higher education through any lender. If the loan is not a state or
2-9 federal guaranteed student loan, the note or other writing
2-10 governing the terms of the loan must require the loan proceeds to
2-11 be used for expenses incurred by a person attending any public or
2-12 private institution of higher education.
2-13 (b) The board may not provide repayment assistance for a
2-14 student loan that is in default at the time of the person's
2-15 application.
2-16 Sec. 61.875. AGREEMENT. (a) To qualify for loan repayment
2-17 assistance under this subchapter, a person must enter into a
2-18 written agreement with the board as provided by this section. The
2-19 agreement must specify the conditions the person must satisfy to
2-20 receive repayment assistance.
2-21 (b) The agreement must require the person to serve two years
2-22 as an early childhood child-care worker in this state not later
2-23 than the third anniversary of the date the person enters into the
2-24 agreement, and must specify a number of additional years of service
2-25 as an early childhood child-care worker in this state for which the
2-26 person may receive repayment assistance and the period within which
2-27 the person must complete those years of additional service. Only
3-1 service as an early childhood child-care worker after the date the
3-2 person enters into the agreement may be used to satisfy the service
3-3 requirement under the agreement.
3-4 (c) The agreement must provide that the repayment assistance
3-5 the person receives before the person has served the first two full
3-6 years as an early childhood child-care worker under the agreement
3-7 or any repayment assistance the person receives after the first two
3-8 years of service but before completing each additional full year of
3-9 service constitutes a loan until the person completes that two
3-10 years or additional year of service, as applicable, and satisfies
3-11 any other applicable conditions of the agreement. The agreement
3-12 must require the person to sign a promissory note acknowledging the
3-13 conditional nature of the repayment assistance received and
3-14 promising to repay the amount of that assistance received plus
3-15 applicable interest and reasonable collection costs if the person
3-16 does not satisfy the applicable conditions. The board shall
3-17 determine the terms of the promissory note. To the extent
3-18 practicable, the terms must be the same as those applicable to
3-19 state or federally guaranteed student loans made at the same time.
3-20 All amounts collected in repayment of a loan under this subsection,
3-21 including interest, but excluding collection costs paid by the
3-22 board to another person to collect or assist in collecting the
3-23 amount, shall be deposited to the credit of the trust fund
3-24 established by Section 61.878.
3-25 Sec. 61.876. AMOUNT OF REPAYMENT ASSISTANCE; LIMITATIONS.
3-26 (a) For each year that a qualified person serves as an early
3-27 childhood child-care worker in this state under an agreement under
4-1 Section 61.875, the person may receive loan repayment assistance in
4-2 an amount not to exceed 15 percent of the total amount of the
4-3 person's outstanding student loans, including scheduled interest
4-4 payments that would become due if the loan is not prepaid, when the
4-5 person enters into the agreement. The amount of repayment
4-6 assistance paid for a year may not exceed the lesser of:
4-7 (1) the actual amount of the loan payments the person
4-8 receiving the assistance is required to make for that year; or
4-9 (2) an amount set by the board equal to the maximum
4-10 amount of resident tuition and required fees paid by a person
4-11 enrolled as a full-time student at a general academic teaching
4-12 institution for the most recent academic year, excluding summer
4-13 sessions.
4-14 (b) The board may enter into an agreement to provide loan
4-15 repayment assistance under Section 61.875 only to the extent money
4-16 in the trust fund established by Section 61.878 or money
4-17 appropriated to the trust fund for future deposit to the trust fund
4-18 will be sufficient to provide the repayment assistance as it
4-19 becomes payable. If that money will not be sufficient to provide
4-20 repayment assistance to each eligible applicant, the board shall
4-21 select persons to receive repayment assistance from the eligible
4-22 applicants according to financial need or on another basis the
4-23 board considers reasonable to further the purposes of this
4-24 subchapter.
4-25 (c) The board may determine the manner in which the loan
4-26 repayment assistance is to be paid and shall include provisions
4-27 governing the manner of repayment in the agreement. The board may
5-1 provide for the payment of a portion of the repayment assistance in
5-2 one or more installments before the person completes a full year of
5-3 service as an early childhood child-care worker and for the payment
5-4 of the remainder of the repayment assistance for that year after
5-5 the completion of the full year of service.
5-6 Sec. 61.877. ADMINISTRATION; RULES. (a) The board shall
5-7 adopt rules necessary for the administration of this subchapter.
5-8 (b) The board shall distribute a copy of the rules adopted
5-9 under this section and pertinent information in this subchapter
5-10 to each public or private institution of higher education in this
5-11 state that offers a degree program in early childhood development
5-12 or an equivalent degree.
5-13 Sec. 61.878. FUNDING. (a) The loan repayment assistance
5-14 program established by this subchapter is funded from the
5-15 child-care worker student loan assistance trust fund. The trust
5-16 fund is established outside the treasury and is administered by the
5-17 comptroller. Money in the trust fund may be spent without
5-18 appropriation and only to fund the program. Interest and income
5-19 from the assets of the trust fund shall be credited to and
5-20 deposited in the trust fund.
5-21 (b) The board may solicit and accept gifts, grants, and
5-22 donations from any public or private source for the purposes of
5-23 this chapter and shall deposit money accepted under this subsection
5-24 to the credit of the trust fund.
5-25 (c) The legislature may appropriate money to the trust fund.
5-26 SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 1999 fall
5-27 semester.
6-1 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
6-2 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-3 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-4 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-5 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
6-6 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
6-7 passage, and it is so enacted.