Bill Text: IA SF2189 | 2019-2020 | 88th General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: A bill for an act relating to the national guard of the state concerning armory board leases, persons subject to the code of military justice, and scholarship and loan repayment programs. (Formerly SSB 3083.)

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-02-06 - Committee report, approving bill. S.J. 244. [SF2189 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2019-SF2189-Introduced.html
Senate File 2189 - Introduced SENATE FILE 2189 BY COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT (SUCCESSOR TO SSB 3083) A BILL FOR An Act relating to the national guard of the state concerning 1 armory board leases, persons subject to the code of military 2 justice, and scholarship and loan repayment programs. 3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 4 TLSB 5394SV (1) 88 ec/rn
S.F. 2189 Section 1. Section 29A.58, subsection 1, Code 2020, is 1 amended to read as follows: 2 1. The armory board as lessee may lease property to be 3 used for armory purposes and other training of the national 4 guard. Leases may be made for any term not to exceed twenty 5 thirty years. Rents under such leases shall be paid from funds 6 appropriated for the support and maintenance of the national 7 guard. 8 Sec. 2. Section 29B.1, subsection 1, Code 2020, is amended 9 by striking the subsection and inserting in lieu thereof the 10 following: 11 1. A person shall not be punished for an offense under this 12 chapter unless the person is a member of the military forces of 13 the state and any of the following applies: 14 a. The person is on national guard duty or state active 15 duty, including between consecutive drill periods which are 16 less than twenty-four hours apart. For purposes of this 17 paragraph, a member of the state military forces is on national 18 guard duty or state active duty during travel to or from the 19 member’s duty location. 20 b. (1) The person is not on national guard duty or 21 state active duty but a nexus exists between the offense 22 and the military forces of the state. Only a commanding 23 officer holding a position in the grade of 0-6 and above may 24 impose nonjudicial punishment for an offense subject to this 25 paragraph. 26 (2) For purposes of this paragraph, the military forces 27 of the state shall have the burden to show the existence of a 28 nexus by a preponderance of the evidence and the term nexus 29 shall be liberally construed in favor of finding the existence 30 of a nexus. 31 Sec. 3. Section 261.86, subsection 6, Code 2020, is amended 32 to read as follows: 33 6. a. Notwithstanding section 8.33 , funds appropriated 34 for purposes of this section which remain unencumbered or 35 -1- LSB 5394SV (1) 88 ec/rn 1/ 6
S.F. 2189 unobligated at the close of the fiscal year for which the funds 1 were appropriated shall not revert but shall be available for 2 expenditure for the following fiscal year upon the authority of 3 the adjutant general for purposes of this section and section 4 261.86A . 5 b. The adjutant general shall submit a report to the 6 governor and the general assembly by December 31 of each 7 year listing the science, technology, engineering, and 8 mathematics-related career fields the adjutant general plans to 9 focus on in providing educational incentives under this section 10 and section 261.86A using funds available under this subsection 11 for that fiscal year. 12 Sec. 4. NEW SECTION . 261.86A National guard STEM-related 13 recruitment and retention incentive programs. 14 1. a. The adjutant general has the authority under this 15 section to authorize the expenditure of unencumbered or 16 unobligated funds as described in section 261.86, subsection 17 6, to recruit or retain individuals who have completed or are 18 pursuing training in science, technology, engineering, and 19 mathematics-related military occupational specialties or air 20 force specialty codes by issuing awards through a national 21 guard student loan repayment program in accordance with 22 subsection 2 or by providing a scholarship award to an eligible 23 member of the national guard who is enrolled at an institution 24 defined in section 261.86, subsection 1, paragraph “d” , in a 25 master’s degree program that is in compliance with the federal 26 Edith Nourse Rogers STEM scholarship program established 27 under 38 U.S.C. §3320 in accordance with the requirements of 28 subsection 3. 29 b. The adjutant general can offer a recruitment or retention 30 incentive as authorized by this section in either the military 31 entrance process or within the final year of the service 32 member’s initial contract obligation pending the service member 33 signing a six-year extension. A recipient of a recruitment or 34 retention incentive pursuant to this section will need to hold 35 -2- LSB 5394SV (1) 88 ec/rn 2/ 6
S.F. 2189 civilian employment in an eligible service commitment area as 1 defined by the college student aid commission. 2 2. a. A national guard student loan repayment program 3 is established to be administered by the college student aid 4 commission. Funds for loan repayment awards under the program 5 shall be expended upon the authority of the adjutant general. 6 b. An individual is eligible for a loan repayment award 7 under this subsection if the individual meets all of the 8 following conditions: 9 (1) Is a resident of the state and a member of an Iowa 10 army or air national guard unit while receiving loan repayment 11 awards issued pursuant to this subsection. 12 (2) Satisfactorily completed required initial active duty 13 training. 14 (3) Maintains satisfactory performance of duty upon return 15 from initial active duty training, including attending a 16 minimum ninety percent of scheduled drill dates and attending 17 annual training. 18 c. An applicant for an award under this subsection shall, in 19 accordance with the rules promulgated by the college student 20 aid commission, do all of the following: 21 (1) Complete and file an application for national guard 22 student loan repayment. The individual shall be responsible 23 for the prompt submission of any information required by the 24 national guard and the college student aid commission. 25 (2) File a new application and submit information as 26 required by the national guard and the college student aid 27 commission annually on the basis of which the applicant’s 28 eligibility for the renewed loan repayment will be evaluated 29 and determined. 30 (3) Complete and return on a form approved by the national 31 guard and the college student aid commission an affidavit of 32 practice verifying that the applicant holds civilian employment 33 in an eligible service commitment area. Loan repayment 34 awards under this subsection will only be made after annual 35 -3- LSB 5394SV (1) 88 ec/rn 3/ 6
S.F. 2189 verification that the individual meets the criteria of this 1 subparagraph. 2 d. The annual amount of an award to an applicant under 3 this subsection shall not exceed five thousand dollars or one 4 hundred percent of the applicant’s total federally guaranteed 5 Stafford loan amount under the federal family education loan 6 program or the federal direct loan program, the applicant’s 7 federal grad plus loans, or the applicant’s federal Perkins 8 loans, including principal and interest, whichever is less. An 9 applicant shall be eligible for a loan repayment award under 10 this subsection for not more than six consecutive years. 11 3. An applicant for a master’s degree scholarship award as 12 described in subsection 1 shall meet the criteria as provided 13 in section 261.86, subsection 1, except that the applicant can 14 be enrolled in a master’s degree program. The provisions of 15 section 261.86, subsections 2, 4, and 5, shall also apply to 16 scholarship awards made under this subsection. A scholarship 17 award provided to a recipient enrolled in a master’s degree 18 program under this subsection shall be limited to thirty-six, 19 or equivalent, credit hours of graduate study. 20 EXPLANATION 21 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 22 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 23 This bill concerns the national guard of the state. 24 Code section 29A.58, concerning the leasing of armories, is 25 amended to provide that property may be leased to be used for 26 armory purposes for any term not to exceed 30 instead of 20 27 years. 28 Code section 29B.1, concerning persons subject to the Iowa 29 code of military justice, is amended to provide that a person 30 shall not be punished for an offense under the code unless the 31 person is a member of the military forces of the state and 32 the person is on national guard duty or state active duty, 33 including between consecutive drill periods which are less than 34 24 hours apart, or the person is not on national guard duty or 35 -4- LSB 5394SV (1) 88 ec/rn 4/ 6
S.F. 2189 state active duty but a nexus exists between the offense and 1 the military forces of the state. Current law provides that 2 the code applies to all members of the state military forces 3 performing national guard duty or state active duty and to all 4 members of the state military forces who commit an offense 5 during travel to or from the member’s duty location or during 6 intervals between consecutive periods of duty on the same day 7 or on consecutive days in which the victim of the offense is 8 another member of the state military forces. For purposes of 9 applying the code based on a nexus between the offense and the 10 military forces of the state, the bill provides that only a 11 commanding officer holding a position in the grade of 0-6 and 12 above may impose nonjudicial punishment for an offense and the 13 military forces of the state shall have the burden to show the 14 existence of a nexus by a preponderance of the evidence. 15 Code section 261.86, concerning national guard service 16 scholarship programs, is amended. The bill authorizes the 17 adjutant general to expend appropriated funds which remain 18 unencumbered or unobligated at the close of a fiscal year in 19 the following fiscal year for purposes of Code section 261.86 20 and for purposes of recruitment and retention programs as 21 provided in new Code section 261.86A, created in the bill. The 22 Code section is further amended to require the adjutant general 23 to submit a report to the governor and the general assembly 24 by December 31 of each year listing the science, technology, 25 engineering, and mathematics-related career fields the adjutant 26 general plans to focus on in providing educational incentives 27 using funds available for that fiscal year. 28 New Code section 261.86A establishes two recruitment 29 and incentive programs to recruit or retain individuals 30 who have completed or are pursuing training in science, 31 technology, engineering, and mathematics-related military 32 occupational specialties or air force specialty codes. The 33 bill authorizes the adjutant general to expend unencumbered 34 or unobligated funds as described in Code section 261.86, 35 -5- LSB 5394SV (1) 88 ec/rn 5/ 6
S.F. 2189 subsection 6, to recruit or retain individuals by offering 1 either a student loan repayment program or a master’s degree 2 scholarship award program that is in compliance with the 3 federal Edith Nourse Rogers STEM scholarship program. The bill 4 establishes a national guard student loan repayment program 5 to be administered by the college student aid commission and 6 establishes requirements for applicants and for loan repayment 7 awards. The bill also establishes requirements for the 8 master’s degree scholarship program. 9 -6- LSB 5394SV (1) 88 ec/rn 6/ 6
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