Bill Text: MI HB5873 | 2011-2012 | 96th Legislature | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Higher education; financial aid; administration of police officer's and fire fighter's survivor tuition act; transfer to department of treasury and revise application process. Amends title & secs. 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 of 1996 PA 195 (MCL 390.1241 et seq.).

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2012-12-31 - Assigned Pa 470'12 With Immediate Effect 2012 Addenda [HB5873 Detail]

Download: Michigan-2011-HB5873-Introduced.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE BILL No. 5873

 

September 11, 2012, Introduced by Rep. Forlini and referred to the Committee on Appropriations.

 

     A bill to amend 1996 PA 195, entitled

 

"Police officer's and fire fighter's survivor tuition act,"

 

by amending the title and sections 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 (MCL 390.1241,

 

390.1242, 390.1243, 390.1244, and 390.1245).

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

TITLE

 

     An act to provide for a waiver of tuition grant program at

 

state public institutions of higher education for children and

 

surviving spouses of Michigan police officers and fire fighters

 

killed in the line of duty; to provide for the administration of

 

that tuition grant program; to prescribe certain powers and duties

 

of state officers, agencies, and departments; and to provide for an

 

appropriation.

 

     Sec. 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the

 


"police officer's and fire fighter's survivor tuition grant act".

 

     Sec. 2. As used in this act:

 

     (a) "Academic year" means the period from September 1 of a

 

calendar year to August 31 of the next calendar year.

 

     (b) (a) "Child" means an individual who is a natural or

 

adopted child of a deceased Michigan police officer or deceased

 

Michigan fire fighter and who was under the age of 21 at the time

 

of the Michigan police officer's or Michigan fire fighter's death.

 

     (c) (b) "Department" means the department of state

 

police.treasury.

 

     (d) "Eligible student" means a child or surviving spouse of a

 

Michigan police officer or Michigan fire fighter who was or is

 

killed in the line of duty.

 

     (e) (c) "Killed" means that the Michigan police officer's or

 

Michigan fire fighter's death is the direct and proximate result of

 

a traumatic injury incurred in the line of duty.

 

     (f) (d) "Line of duty" means an action that a Michigan police

 

officer or Michigan fire fighter is obligated or authorized to

 

perform by rule, regulation, condition of employment or service, or

 

law, including, but not limited to, a social, ceremonial, or

 

athletic function that the Michigan police officer or Michigan fire

 

fighter is assigned to or compensated for by the public agency he

 

or she serves.

 

     (g) (e) "Michigan police officer" means a sheriff or sheriff's

 

deputy of a sheriff's department in this state; village or township

 

marshal of a village or township in this state; officer of the

 

police department of any city, village, or township in this state;

 


officer of the Michigan state police; or any other police officer

 

or law enforcement officer trained and certified pursuant to the

 

Michigan law enforcement officers training council act of 1965, Act

 

No. 203 of the Public Acts of 1965, being sections 28.601 to 28.616

 

of the Michigan Compiled Laws. under the commission on law

 

enforcement standards act, 1965 PA 203, MCL 28.601 to 28.616.

 

     (h) (f) "Michigan fire fighter" means a member including

 

volunteer members and members paid on call of a fire department, or

 

other organization that provides fire suppression and other fire-

 

related services, of a city, township, village, or county who is

 

responsible for or is in a capacity that includes responsibility

 

for the extinguishment of fires. Michigan fire fighter does not

 

include a person whose job description, duties, or responsibilities

 

do not include direct involvement in fire suppression.

 

     (i) (g) "Occupational disease" means a disease that routinely

 

constitutes a special hazard in, or is commonly regarded as

 

concomitant of, the Michigan police officer's or Michigan fire

 

fighter's occupation.

 

     (j) (h) "State institution of higher education" means a public

 

community or junior college established under section 7 of article

 

VIII of the state constitution of 1963 or part 25 of the revised

 

school code, Act No. 451 of the Public Acts of 1976, being sections

 

380.1601 to 380.1607 of the Michigan Compiled Laws, 1976 PA 451,

 

MCL 380.1601 to 380.1607, or a state university described in

 

section 4, 5, or 6 of article VIII of the state constitution of

 

1963.

 

     (k) "Survivor's tuition grant" means a tuition grant awarded

 


to an eligible student under this act.

 

     (l) (i) "Traumatic injury" means a wound or the condition of

 

the body caused by external force, including, but not limited to,

 

an injury inflicted by bullet, explosive, sharp instrument, blunt

 

object or other physical blow, fire, smoke, chemical, electricity,

 

climatic condition, infectious disease, radiation, or bacteria, but

 

excluding an injury resulting from stress, strain, or occupational

 

disease.

 

     (m) (j) "Tuition" means tuition at the rate charged for

 

residents to a resident of this state by a state institution of

 

higher education.

 

     Sec. 3. (1) The police officer's and fire fighter's survivor

 

tuition program is created, to be administered by the department.

 

     (2) (1) Beginning in the 1996-1997 2012-2013 academic year,

 

and subject to the limitations in subsections (2), (3), and (4), a

 

state institution of higher education shall waive tuition for each

 

child and surviving spouse of a Michigan police officer or Michigan

 

fire fighter who has been or is killed in the line of duty if the

 

child or surviving spouse meets (3), (4), and (5) and section 4(4),

 

the department shall provide a survivor's tuition grant in an

 

amount determined by the department to each eligible student if all

 

of the following requirements are met:

 

     (a) Applies, The student applies, qualifies, and is admitted

 

as a full-time, part-time, or summer school student in a program of

 

study leading to a degree or certificate at a state institution of

 

higher education.

 

     (b) Is The student is a legal resident of the state for at

 


least the 12 consecutive months immediately preceding his or her

 

application. For an individual who is a dependent of his or her

 

parent, residency status shall be determined by the parent's

 

residency. For an individual who is not a dependent, residency

 

status shall be is determined in the same manner as under title IV

 

of the higher education act of 1965, Public Law 89-329, 79 Stat.

 

1232.20 USC 1070 to 1070h.

 

     (c) Applies The student applies to the department for a

 

survivor's tuition waiver grant under this act and provides

 

evidence satisfactory to the department that he or she is the child

 

or the surviving spouse of a Michigan police officer or Michigan

 

fire fighter who was killed in the line of duty, an eligible

 

student, that the course or courses for which he or she is seeking

 

a survivor's tuition waiver grant meet the requirements of

 

subsection (2), (3), and that he or she meets the other

 

requirements of this section.

 

     (d) For If the student is a child of a Michigan police officer

 

or Michigan fire fighter who was killed in the line of duty, he or

 

she applies for a survivor's tuition grant under subdivision (c)

 

for the first time before the age of 21.

 

     (e) Is certified by the The financial aid officer at the state

 

institution of higher education as needing the certifies to the

 

department that the student needs the survivor's tuition waiver

 

grant in order to meet recognized educational expenses tuition

 

expenses; certifies the amount that the student needs for those

 

tuition expenses; and certifies that the tuition rate or rates used

 

to determine the amount of those expenses do not exceed the rate or

 


rates charged to residents of this state. If the child's or

 

surviving spouse's eligible student's family income, excluding any

 

income from death benefits attributable to the Michigan police

 

officer's or Michigan fire fighter's death, is below 400% of

 

poverty level under federal poverty guidelines published by the

 

United States department of health and human services, the

 

institution shall not include income from any death benefits

 

accruing to the child or surviving spouse eligible student as a

 

result of the Michigan police officer's or Michigan fire fighter's

 

death shall not be counted as family income in determining

 

financial need under this subdivision.

 

     (f) Maintains The student maintains satisfactory academic

 

progress, as defined by the state institution of higher education,

 

for each term or semester in which he or she is enrolled. The

 

satisfactory progress definition used by an institution for federal

 

student assistance programs under title IV of the higher education

 

act of 1965 20 USC 1070 to 1070h is acceptable for the purposes of

 

this act.

 

     (g) Has not achieved The student has not received a bachelor's

 

degree and has received tuition reimbursement assistance under this

 

act for less fewer than 124 semester credits or 180 term credits at

 

an institution of higher education.

 

     (3) (2) A state institution of higher education shall waive

 

tuition under this act The department shall provide a survivor's

 

tuition grant only for courses that are applicable toward the

 

degree or certificate requirements of the program in which the

 

child or surviving spouse eligible student is enrolled.

 


     (4) (3) A child or surviving spouse of a Michigan police

 

officer or Michigan fire fighter who was killed in the line of duty

 

An eligible student is eligible for a survivor's tuition waiver

 

under this section grant for not more than a total of 9 semesters

 

or the equivalent number of terms or quarters.

 

     (5) (4) Tuition shall be waived only to the extent that the

 

tuition The amount of a survivor's tuition grant is limited to the

 

amount of the eligible student's tuition that is not covered or

 

paid by any scholarship, trust fund, statutory benefit, or any

 

other source of tuition coverage available to the person eligible

 

for a waiver under this act. eligible student. The department may

 

reduce the amount of a survivor's tuition grant if it determines

 

that the tuition rate or rates used to determine the amount that

 

the state institution of higher education certifies under

 

subsection (2)(e) that the student needs exceed the tuition rate or

 

rates charged by the institution in that academic year to residents

 

of this state.

 

     Sec. 4. (1) Beginning in the 1996-1997 2012-2013 academic

 

year, upon receiving if it receives an application under section

 

3(c), 3(2)(c) and subject to subsection (4), the department shall

 

determine whether the applicant and the courses for which a

 

survivor's tuition waiver grant is sought meet the requirements of

 

section 3 and, if so, shall approve the application and notify the

 

state institution of higher education that it has approved the

 

application. has been approved.

 

     (2) Beginning in the 1996-1997 academic year, upon application

 

by the state institution of higher education, the department

 


annually shall reimburse each state institution of higher education

 

for the total amount of tuition waived during the immediately

 

preceding fiscal year under section 3. All of the following apply

 

if the department approves a survivor's tuition grant under

 

subsection (1):

 

     (a) The department shall disburse the survivor's tuition grant

 

money to the state institution of higher education that the student

 

attends, according to a payment procedure established by the

 

department.

 

     (b) The institution shall only apply money received under

 

subdivision (a) on a student's behalf to the student's outstanding

 

indebtedness for tuition.

 

     (3) The department annually shall report to the legislature

 

the number of individuals for whom tuition has been waived at each

 

state institution of higher education and the total amounts to be

 

paid under this act for that fiscal year.who received survivor's

 

tuition grants in the preceding academic year and the total amount

 

of those grants; which state institutions of higher education those

 

students attended; and the total amount disbursed to each

 

institution.

 

     (4) If it receives an application under section 3(2)(c), the

 

department shall submit the evidence provided by the applicant that

 

he or she is an eligible student to the department of state police

 

for a determination of whether the Michigan police officer's or

 

Michigan fire fighter's death was the direct and proximate result

 

of a traumatic injury incurred in the line of duty. The department

 

shall not award a survivor's tuition grant unless the department of

 


state police determines that the death was the direct and proximate

 

result of a traumatic injury incurred in the line of duty.

 

     Sec. 5. (1) The department shall provide the necessary do all

 

of the following:

 

     (a) Administer the survivor's tuition grant program.

 

     (b) Verify the tuition rates certified by state institutions

 

of higher education under section 3(2)(e).

 

     (c) Develop and provide forms and applications and shall

 

cooperate for use by survivor's tuition grant applicants, state

 

institutions of higher education, the department of state police,

 

and the department under this act.

 

     (d) Cooperate with the department of state police and with the

 

state institutions of higher education in developing efficient

 

procedures for implementing the purposes of this act.

 

     (2) The department of state police shall develop appropriate

 

procedures for meeting its responsibilities under section 4. The

 

department of state police shall consult with the department in

 

developing those procedures.

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