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.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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7811--A
2013-2014 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
June 5, 2013
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Introduced by M. of A. ROZIC, BRINDISI, COOK, JAFFEE, MAYER, MOSLEY,
ROSA, SIMANOWITZ, SKARTADOS, SANTABARBARA, KELLNER, HEVESI -- Multi-
Sponsored by -- M. of A. HEASTIE, JACOBS, PERRY, ROBINSON -- read once
and referred to the Committee on Higher Education -- recommitted to
the Committee on Higher Education in accordance with Assembly Rule 3,
sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as
amended and recommitted to said committee
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-f to
4 read as follows:
5 § 679-f. 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,
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10647-05-4
A. 7811--A 2
1 grants, or other financial awards. Awards shall be within the amounts
2 appropriated for such purpose and based on availability of funds.
3 4. Conversion. The corporation shall convert to a student loan the
4 full amount of the award given pursuant to this section, plus interest,
5 according to a schedule to be determined by the corporation if: (a) at
6 any point in the five year period after receipt of such award the recip-
7 ient is not employed as an engineer located within New York state; or
8 (b) a recipient fails to respond to requests by the corporation regard-
9 ing his or her professional status.
10 5. Rules and regulations. The corporation is authorized to promulgate
11 rules and regulations necessary for the implementation of the provisions
12 of this section, including a method for determining the priority in
13 which awards are distributed. When determining rules concerning priori-
14 ty, the corporation shall take such action to ensure that the intent of
15 this section is fulfilled, and shall give preference to individuals who
16 received their degree from a New York based college or university. In
17 the event that there are more applicants who have the same priority than
18 there are remaining awards, the corporation shall provide in regulation
19 the method of distributing the remaining number of such awards, which
20 may include a lottery or other form of random selection.
21 § 3. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
22 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
