Bill Text: TX HB1551 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced


Bill Title: Relating to repayment of certain mental health professional education loans.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-03-03 - Referred to Higher Education [HB1551 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-HB1551-Introduced.html
  88R2737 MM-D
 
  By: Anchía H.B. No. 1551
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to repayment of certain mental health professional
  education loans.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 61.603(a), Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (a)  To be eligible to receive repayment assistance under
  this subchapter, a mental health professional must:
               (1)  apply to the board;
               (2)  have completed one, two, or three[, four, or five]
  consecutive years of practice in a mental health professional
  shortage area designated by the Department of State Health
  Services; and
               (3)  provide mental health services in this state to:
                     (A)  recipients under the medical assistance
  program authorized by Chapter 32, Human Resources Code;
                     (B)  enrollees under the child health plan program
  authorized by Chapter 62, Health and Safety Code; or
                     (C)  persons committed to a secure correctional
  facility operated by or under contract with the Texas Juvenile
  Justice Department or persons confined in a secure correctional
  facility operated by or under contract with any division of the
  Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
         SECTION 2.  Section 61.604(a), Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (a)  A mental health professional may receive repayment
  assistance under this subchapter for not more than three [five]
  years.
         SECTION 3.  Section 61.607(a), Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (a)  A mental health professional may receive repayment
  assistance under this subchapter for each year the mental health
  professional establishes eligibility for the assistance in an
  amount determined by applying the following applicable percentage
  to the maximum total amount of assistance allowed for the mental
  health professional under Subsection (b):
               (1)  for the first year, 33.33 [10] percent;
               (2)  for the second year, 33.33 [15] percent; and
               (3)  for the third year, 33.33 [20] percent[;
               [(4)  for the fourth year, 25 percent; and
               [(5)  for the fifth year, 30 percent].
         SECTION 4.  Section 61.608, Education Code, is amended by
  adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
         (e)  The board shall administer the program under this
  subchapter in a manner that, as program openings occur, allows for
  the continuous:
               (1)  approval or disapproval of applications;
               (2)  determination of applicant eligibility; and
               (3)  acceptance of eligible applicants into the
  program.
         SECTION 5.  Section 61.603(b), Education Code, is repealed.
         SECTION 6.  The changes in law made by this Act to Sections
  61.603 and 61.607(a), Education Code, apply only to a person who
  first establishes eligibility for loan repayment assistance under
  Subchapter K, Chapter 61, Education Code, as amended by this Act, on
  the basis of an application submitted on or after September 1, 2023.
  A person who first establishes eligibility on the basis of an
  application submitted before September 1, 2023, is governed by the
  law in effect at the time the application was submitted, and the
  former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 7.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.
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