Bill Text: MI HB5873 | 2011-2012 | 96th Legislature | Engrossed
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-Engrossed.html
HB-5873, As Passed House, September 19, 2012
SUBSTITUTE FOR
HOUSE BILL NO. 5873
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) "Eligible tuition" means the tuition charged by a state
institution of higher education for an undergraduate class.
(f) (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.
(g) (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.
(h) (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.
(i) (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.
(j) (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.
(k) (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.
(l) "Survivor's tuition grant" means a tuition grant awarded to
an eligible student under this act.
(m) (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.
(j)
"Tuition" means tuition at the rate charged for residents
of
this state.
(n) "Undergraduate class" means a class or course that
provides a student with academic credit applicable toward a
bachelor or associate degree from 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 the
department shall provide a
survivor's tuition grant in an amount determined by the department
under subsection (3) to each eligible student if all of the
following requirements are met:
(a)
Applies, The student
applies, qualifies, and is admitted
House Bill No. 5873 (H-3) as amended September 19, 2012
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 26].
(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 eligible
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.
(2)
A state institution of higher education shall waive
tuition
under this act only for courses that are applicable toward
the
degree or certificate requirements of the program in which the
child
or surviving spouse is enrolled.
(h) (3)
A child or surviving spouse of a Michigan police
officer
or Michigan fire fighter who was killed in the line of duty
is
eligible for The student has
not received a survivor's tuition
waiver
under this section for not grant
in more than a total of 9
semesters or the equivalent number of terms or quarters.
(3) (4)
Tuition shall be waived only to the extent that the
tuition
The amount of a survivor's tuition
grant in an academic
year is the amount of the student's eligible tuition in that
academic year 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 eligible 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.
