By Greenberg H.B. No. 1689
76R386 JSA-D
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 full-time, as determined by the board, in a child-care
1-14 facility, whether as an employee, owner, or volunteer, and whose
1-15 duties consist primarily of providing child care or education to
1-16 children 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
2-1 degree in early childhood development or the equivalent from a
2-2 public or private institution of higher education accredited by a
2-3 recognized accrediting agency; and
2-4 (2) enter into an agreement to serve as an early
2-5 childhood child-care worker as provided by Section 61.875.
2-6 Sec. 61.874. ELIGIBLE LOANS. (a) A person may receive loan
2-7 repayment assistance under this subchapter for the repayment of any
2-8 student loan for education at an institution of higher education
2-9 through any lender. If the loan is not a state or federal
2-10 guaranteed student loan, the note or other writing governing the
2-11 terms of the loan must require the loan proceeds to be used for
2-12 expenses incurred by a person attending an institution of higher
2-13 education.
2-14 (b) The board may not provide repayment assistance for a
2-15 student loan that is in default at the time of the person's
2-16 application.
2-17 Sec. 61.875. AGREEMENT. (a) To qualify for loan repayment
2-18 assistance under this subchapter, a person must enter into a
2-19 written agreement with the board as provided by this section. The
2-20 agreement must specify the conditions the person must satisfy to
2-21 receive repayment assistance.
2-22 (b) The agreement must require the person to serve two years
2-23 as an early childhood child-care worker in this state not later
2-24 than the third anniversary of the date the person enters into the
2-25 agreement, and must specify a number of additional years of service
2-26 as an early childhood child-care worker in this state for which the
2-27 person may receive repayment assistance and the period within which
3-1 the person must complete those years of additional service. Only
3-2 service as an early childhood child-care worker after the date the
3-3 person enters into the agreement may be used to satisfy the service
3-4 requirement under the agreement.
3-5 (c) The agreement must provide that the repayment assistance
3-6 the person receives before the person has served the first two full
3-7 years as an early childhood child-care worker under the agreement
3-8 and any repayment assistance the person receives after the first
3-9 two years of service but before completing each additional full
3-10 year of service constitutes a loan until the person completes that
3-11 two years or additional year of service, as applicable, and
3-12 satisfies any other applicable conditions of the agreement. The
3-13 agreement must require the person to sign a promissory note
3-14 acknowledging the conditional nature of the repayment assistance
3-15 received and promising to repay the amount of that assistance
3-16 received plus applicable interest and reasonable collection costs
3-17 if the person does not satisfy the applicable conditions. The
3-18 board shall determine the terms of the promissory note. To the
3-19 extent practicable, the terms must be the same as those applicable
3-20 to state or federally guaranteed student loans made at the same
3-21 time. All amounts collected in repayment of a loan under this
3-22 subsection, including interest, but excluding collection costs paid
3-23 by the board to another person to collect or assist in collecting
3-24 the amount, shall be deposited to the credit of the trust fund
3-25 established by Section 61.878.
3-26 Sec. 61.876. AMOUNT OF REPAYMENT ASSISTANCE; LIMITATIONS.
3-27 (a) For each year that a qualified person serves as an early
4-1 childhood child-care worker in this state under an agreement under
4-2 Section 61.875, the person may receive loan repayment assistance in
4-3 an amount not to exceed 15 percent of the total amount of the
4-4 person's outstanding student loans, including scheduled interest
4-5 payments that would become due if the loan is not prepaid, when the
4-6 person enters into the agreement. The amount of repayment
4-7 assistance paid for a year may not exceed the actual amount of the
4-8 loan payments the person receiving the assistance is required to
4-9 make for that year.
4-10 (b) The board may enter into an agreement to provide loan
4-11 repayment assistance under Section 61.875 only to the extent money
4-12 in the trust fund established by Section 61.878 or money
4-13 appropriated to the trust fund for future deposit to the trust fund
4-14 will be sufficient to provide the repayment assistance as it
4-15 becomes payable. If that money will not be sufficient to provide
4-16 repayment assistance to each eligible applicant, the board shall
4-17 select persons to receive repayment assistance from the eligible
4-18 applicants according to financial need or on another basis the
4-19 board considers reasonable to further the purposes of this
4-20 subchapter.
4-21 Sec. 61.877. ADMINISTRATION; RULES. (a) The board shall
4-22 adopt rules necessary for the administration of this subchapter.
4-23 (b) The board shall distribute a copy of the rules adopted
4-24 under this section and pertinent information in this subchapter
4-25 to each public or private institution of higher education in this
4-26 state that offers a degree program in early childhood development
4-27 or an equivalent degree.
5-1 Sec. 61.878. FUNDING. (a) The loan repayment assistance
5-2 program established by this subchapter is funded from the
5-3 child-care worker student loan assistance trust fund. The trust
5-4 fund is established outside the treasury and is administered by the
5-5 comptroller. Money in the trust fund may be spent without
5-6 appropriation and only to fund the program. Interest and income
5-7 from the assets of the trust fund shall be credited to and
5-8 deposited in the trust fund.
5-9 (b) The board may solicit and accept gifts, grants, and
5-10 donations from any public or private source for the purposes of
5-11 this chapter, and shall deposit money accepted under this
5-12 subsection to the credit of the trust fund.
5-13 (c) The legislature may appropriate money to the trust fund.
5-14 SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 1999 fall
5-15 semester.
5-16 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
5-17 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-18 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-19 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-20 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
5-21 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
5-22 passage, and it is so enacted.