Bill Text: NY A02921 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Enacts the empire engineers initiative act; provides partial student loan repayment for students who are employed as engineers in the state of New York for five years following their graduation.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - referred to higher education [A02921 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-A02921-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 2921 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 28, 2019 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. ROZIC, COOK, HEVESI, JAFFEE, MOSLEY, SANTABARBARA -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. ABBATE, SIMON -- read once and referred to the Committee on Higher Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to the empire engineers initiative act The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as "the empire 2 engineers initiative act". 3 § 2. The education law is amended by adding a new section 679-k to 4 read as follows: 5 § 679-k. New York state engineers loan forgiveness program. 1. 6 Purpose. The president shall grant student loan forgiveness awards for 7 the purpose of increasing the number of engineers serving in New York 8 city and the rest of the state. 9 2. Eligibility. To be eligible for an award pursuant to this section, 10 applicants shall (a) have received a degree in engineering from an 11 accredited college or university; (b) comply with subdivisions three and 12 five of section six hundred sixty-one of this part; (c) have an 13 outstanding student loan debt; and (d) enter into a contract with the 14 corporation to perform engineering services within the state. 15 3. Awards. The corporation shall grant awards in an amount equal to 16 fifty percent of the total tuition charged to the student by all schools 17 or fifty percent of the total tuition charged to a state resident 18 student attending an engineering program at the state university of New 19 York, whichever is less prior to the application of any scholarships, 20 grants, or other financial awards. Awards shall be within the amounts 21 appropriated for such purpose and based on availability of funds. 22 4. Conversion. The corporation shall convert to a student loan the 23 full amount of the award given pursuant to this section, plus interest, 24 according to a schedule to be determined by the corporation if: (a) at EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD00806-01-9A. 2921 2 1 any point in the five year period after receipt of such award the recip- 2 ient is not employed as an engineer located within New York state; or 3 (b) a recipient fails to respond to requests by the corporation regard- 4 ing his or her professional status. 5 5. Rules and regulations. The corporation is authorized to promulgate 6 rules and regulations necessary for the implementation of the provisions 7 of this section, including a method for determining the priority in 8 which awards are distributed. When determining rules concerning priori- 9 ty, the corporation shall take such action to ensure that the intent of 10 this section is fulfilled, and shall give preference to individuals who 11 received their degree from a New York based college or university. In 12 the event that there are more applicants who have the same priority than 13 there are remaining awards, the corporation shall provide in regulation 14 the method of distributing the remaining number of such awards, which 15 may include a lottery or other form of random selection. 16 § 3. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed- 17 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.