Bill Text: NY A02921 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

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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

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                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.
                                                                   LBD00806-01-9
        A. 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.