1-1     By:  Greenberg, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Ellis)       H.B. No. 1689
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 28, 1999;
 1-3     April 29, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
 1-4     Education; May 14, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:
 1-5     Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 14, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to student loan repayment assistance for certain
 1-9     child-care workers.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Chapter 61, Education Code, is amended by adding
1-12     Subchapter T to read as follows:
1-13              SUBCHAPTER T.  EARLY CHILDHOOD CHILD-CARE WORKER
1-14                       STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM
1-15           Sec. 61.871.  DEFINITIONS.  In this subchapter:
1-16                 (1)  "Child-care facility" has the meaning assigned by
1-17     Section 42.002, Human Resources Code.
1-18                 (2)  "Early childhood child-care worker" means a person
1-19     who works more than 30 hours a week in a child-care facility,
1-20     whether as an employee, owner, or volunteer, and whose duties
1-21     consist primarily of providing child care or education to children
1-22     less than four years of age.
1-23           Sec. 61.872.  LOAN REPAYMENT ASSISTANCE AUTHORIZED.  The
1-24     board shall provide, in accordance with this subchapter and board
1-25     rules, assistance in the repayment of eligible student loans for
1-26     persons who apply and qualify for the assistance.
1-27           Sec. 61.873.  ELIGIBILITY FOR ASSISTANCE.  To be eligible to
1-28     receive loan repayment assistance under this subchapter, a person
1-29     must:
1-30                 (1)  hold an associate, baccalaureate, or graduate
1-31     degree in early childhood development or the equivalent from a
1-32     public or private institution of higher education accredited by a
1-33     recognized accrediting agency; and
1-34                 (2)  enter into an agreement to serve as an early
1-35     childhood child-care worker as provided by Section 61.875.
1-36           Sec. 61.874.  ELIGIBLE LOANS.  (a)  A person may receive loan
1-37     repayment assistance under this subchapter for the repayment of any
1-38     student loan for education at any public or private institution of
1-39     higher education through any lender.  If the loan is not a state or
1-40     federal guaranteed student loan, the note or other writing
1-41     governing the terms of the loan must require the loan proceeds to
1-42     be used for expenses incurred by a person attending any public or
1-43     private institution of higher education.
1-44           (b)  The board may not provide repayment assistance for a
1-45     student loan that is in default at the time of the person's
1-46     application.
1-47           Sec. 61.875.  AGREEMENT.  (a)  To qualify for loan repayment
1-48     assistance under this subchapter, a person must enter into a
1-49     written agreement with the board as provided by this section.  The
1-50     agreement must specify the conditions the person must satisfy to
1-51     receive repayment assistance.
1-52           (b)  The agreement must require the person to serve two years
1-53     as an early childhood child-care worker in this state not later
1-54     than the third anniversary of the date the person enters into the
1-55     agreement, and must specify a number of additional years of service
1-56     as an early childhood child-care worker in this state for which the
1-57     person may receive repayment assistance and the period within which
1-58     the person must complete those years of additional service.  Only
1-59     service as an early childhood child-care worker after the date the
1-60     person enters into the agreement may be used to satisfy the service
1-61     requirement under the agreement.
1-62           (c)  The agreement must provide that the repayment assistance
1-63     the person receives before the person has served the first two full
1-64     years as an early childhood child-care worker under the agreement
 2-1     or any repayment assistance the person receives after the first two
 2-2     years of service but before completing each additional full year of
 2-3     service constitutes a loan until the person completes that two
 2-4     years or additional year of service, as applicable, and satisfies
 2-5     any other applicable conditions of the agreement.  The agreement
 2-6     must require the person to sign a promissory note acknowledging the
 2-7     conditional nature of the repayment assistance received and
 2-8     promising to repay the amount of that assistance received plus
 2-9     applicable interest and reasonable collection costs if the person
2-10     does not satisfy the applicable conditions.  The board shall
2-11     determine the terms of the promissory note.  To the extent
2-12     practicable, the terms must be the same as those applicable to
2-13     state or federally guaranteed student loans made at the same time.
2-14     All amounts collected in repayment of a loan under this subsection,
2-15     including interest, but excluding collection costs paid by the
2-16     board to another person to collect or assist in collecting the
2-17     amount, shall be deposited to the credit of the trust fund
2-18     established by Section 61.878.
2-19           Sec. 61.876.  AMOUNT OF REPAYMENT ASSISTANCE; LIMITATIONS.
2-20     (a)  For each year that a qualified person serves as an early
2-21     childhood child-care worker in this state under an agreement under
2-22     Section 61.875, the person may receive loan repayment assistance in
2-23     an amount not to exceed 15 percent of the total amount of the
2-24     person's outstanding student loans, including scheduled interest
2-25     payments that would become due if the loan is not prepaid, when the
2-26     person enters into the agreement.  The amount of repayment
2-27     assistance paid for a year may not exceed the lesser of:
2-28                 (1)  the actual amount of the loan payments the person
2-29     receiving the assistance is required to make for that year; or
2-30                 (2)  an amount set by the board equal to the maximum
2-31     amount of resident tuition and required fees paid by a person
2-32     enrolled as a full-time student at a general academic teaching
2-33     institution for the most recent academic year, excluding summer
2-34     sessions.
2-35           (b)  The board may enter into an agreement to provide loan
2-36     repayment assistance under Section 61.875 only to the extent money
2-37     in the trust fund established by Section 61.878 or money
2-38     appropriated to the trust fund for future deposit to the trust fund
2-39     will be sufficient to provide the repayment assistance as it
2-40     becomes payable.  If that money will not be sufficient to provide
2-41     repayment assistance to each eligible applicant, the board shall
2-42     select persons to receive repayment assistance from the eligible
2-43     applicants according to financial need or on another basis the
2-44     board considers reasonable to further the purposes of this
2-45     subchapter.
2-46           (c)  The board may determine the manner in which the loan
2-47     repayment assistance is to be paid and shall include provisions
2-48     governing the manner of repayment in the agreement.  The board may
2-49     provide for the payment of a portion of the repayment assistance in
2-50     one or more installments before the person completes a full year of
2-51     service as an early childhood child-care worker and for the payment
2-52     of the remainder of the repayment assistance for that year after
2-53     the completion of the full year of service.
2-54           Sec. 61.877.  ADMINISTRATION; RULES.  (a)  The board shall
2-55     adopt rules necessary for the administration of  this subchapter.
2-56           (b)  The board shall distribute a copy of the rules adopted
2-57     under this section and pertinent information in this subchapter
2-58     to each public or private institution of higher education in this
2-59     state that offers a degree program in early childhood development
2-60     or an equivalent degree.
2-61           Sec. 61.878.  FUNDING.  (a)  The loan repayment assistance
2-62     program established by this subchapter is funded from the
2-63     child-care worker student loan assistance trust fund.  The trust
2-64     fund is established outside the treasury and is administered by the
2-65     comptroller.  Money in the trust fund may be spent without
2-66     appropriation and only to fund the program.  Interest and income
2-67     from the assets of the trust fund shall be credited to and
2-68     deposited in the trust fund.
2-69           (b)  The board may solicit and accept gifts, grants, and
 3-1     donations from any public or private source for the purposes of
 3-2     this chapter and shall deposit money accepted under this subsection
 3-3     to the credit of the trust fund.
 3-4           (c)  The legislature may appropriate money to the trust fund.
 3-5           SECTION 2.  This Act applies beginning with the 1999 fall
 3-6     semester.
 3-7           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 3-8     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-9     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-10     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-11     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-12     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-13     passage, and it is so enacted.
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