Bill Text: MS SB2971 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Public Interest Lawyers' Loan Repayment Assistance Program; establish under IHL.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2011-02-01 - Died In Committee [SB2971 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2011-SB2971-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2011 Regular Session
To: Universities and Colleges; Appropriations
By: Senator(s) Frazier
Senate Bill 2971
AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A PUBLIC INTEREST LAWYER'S LOAN REPAYMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAM IN THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF STATE INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING; TO PROVIDE DEFINITIONS FOR ELIGIBILITY FOR THE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM; TO CREATE A PUBLIC INTEREST LAWYERS' FUND AND SPECIFY SOURCES FOR FUNDING; TO AUTHORIZE THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES TO CREATE A CORPORATION TO ADMINISTER THE PROGRAM; TO PROVIDE CONDITIONS FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE PROGRAM; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Legislative findings; purpose. The Legislature finds that many attorneys graduate from law school with substantial education debt; that the debt that saddles law school graduates prohibits many from considering public interest work; that Mississippi law firms, on average, pay first-year associates more than twice the entry-level salary for public interest work; that a need exists for public interest entities to hire competent attorneys; that the public is better served by competent and qualified attorneys working in the area of public interest; and that programs providing for education loan forgiveness to encourage law students and other attorneys to seek employment in the area of public interest would better enable public interest entities to attract and retain experienced and qualified attorneys.
SECTION 2. Definitions. As used in this act, the term:
(a) "Assistant district attorney" means an attorney employed full time as an assistant district attorney or county prosecuting attorney.
(b) "Assistant Attorney General" or "assistant city attorney" means an attorney employed full time as an Assistant Attorney General or assistant city attorney.
(c) "Civil legal aid attorney" means an attorney employed full time as an attorney in a tax-exempt legal aid nonprofit corporation dedicated to providing free or reduced cost legal services to low-income clients in civil cases.
(d) "Civil legal aid organization" means a tax-exempt legal aid nonprofit corporation dedicated to providing free or reduced cost legal services to low-income clients in civil cases.
(e) "Education loan" means any obligation of an attorney to repay a debt created by the advances of money to the attorney by an institutional or governmental lender that financed, in whole or in part, the debt incurred by the attorney to obtain the undergraduate degree necessary to enter law school, the debt incurred to obtain a Juris Doctor degree at an accredited law school or the equivalent, or both.
(f) "Fund" means the Public Interest Lawyers´ Fund created by this act.
(g) "Office of legislative counsel attorney" means an attorney employed full time by the Mississippi Senate or the Mississippi House of Representatives.
(h) "Public defender: means an attorney employed full time in a city, county, state or university-affiliated public defender office or a criminal defense organization dedicated exclusively to providing indigent defense services as a tax-exempt nonprofit corporation.
(i) "Public defender organization" means a city, county, state or university-affiliated public defender office or a criminal defense organization dedicated exclusively to providing indigent defense services as a tax-exempt nonprofit corporation.
SECTION 3. Establishing and administration of loan forgiveness programs. The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning (board) is authorized to establish and administer loan forgiveness programs for education loans to encourage law students and other attorneys to choose careers in the area of public interest. The board of trustees is authorized to prescribe all rules, regulations, policies, and procedures necessary or convenient for the administration of these programs and all terms and conditions applicable to payments made under this act.
SECTION 4. Creation of Public Interest Lawyers' Fund. (1) There is created the Public Interest Lawyers´ Fund.
(2) The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning shall maintain the fund to which shall be credited:
(a) State funds appropriated for use by the authority for education loan forgiveness purposes; and
(b) Unrestricted monies received by gift or otherwise and other monies available for and determined by the board to be used for the purposes of this act.
The board is authorized to use monies available in the fund to make payments to assist in repaying education loans for eligible attorneys in accordance with its rules and regulations.
(3) Any private donations made by gift or otherwise to the fund may not be designated as to the specific program for which they will be used.
SECTION 5. Corporation established; contracts with civil legal aid organizations. (1) The board is authorized to establish a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation to administer the fund. Upon dissolution of any subsidiary corporation of the board created pursuant to this subsection, any assets shall revert to the board. The board shall not be liable for the debts or obligations or bonds of any subsidiary corporation or for the actions or omissions to act of any subsidiary corporation unless the board expressly so consents.
(2) Any corporation established pursuant to subsection (1) of this section, through the board, is authorized to enter into contracts with civil legal aid organizations or the employees of such organizations and public defender organizations or the employees of such organizations for the purpose of providing education loan forgiveness in consideration of such organizations´ contributions and commitment to providing legal services to low-income civil clients or indigent criminal defendants of this state.
(3) In order for attorneys employed by civil legal aid organizations and public defender organizations to participate, such organizations must contract with the authority and promise to provide the civil legal aid services or public defender services for the period of time for which an assisted employee is obligated or some other period determined by the board.
SECTION 6. Utilization of fund in repayment of education loans; funding of four separate programs. (1) The fund shall be used by the board to assist in the repayment of any education loan owed by an individual who is:
(a) An assistant district attorney or an Assistant Attorney General;
(b) A civil legal aid attorney;
(c) A public defender; or
(d) An office of legislative counsel attorney.
(2) The board shall establish four (4) separate programs to assist each of the four (4) categories of recipients identified in subsection (1) of this section and shall account separately for the funding of each program. Any state appropriation of funds shall separately identify the amount of funds appropriated for each program. Private donations and any other funds available for such programs shall be allocated among such programs by the board.
SECTION 7. Distribution of education loan repayment assistance; conditions. (1) Beginning the seventh month that an attorney is employed in one (1) of the positions listed in Section 6 of this act, the board may distribute education loan repayment assistance for the attorney in an amount not to exceed Six Hundred Dollars ($600.00) per month or the attorney's monthly debt service at the time the initial payments on the loan commenced, whichever is smaller. The attorney may also elect to receive an amount less than the maximum amount authorized and less than the attorney's monthly debt service.
(2) As a condition of receipt of the loan forgiveness provided for in subsection (1) of this section, the attorney shall enter into a contract with the authority providing that the attorney will remain employed in one (1) of the capacities specified in subsection (1) of Section 6 of this act for one (1) month after receipt of the attorney's last monthly installment of such assistance for each month for which such assistance was received up to a maximum of eighteen (18) months. If the attorney receives the maximum amount authorized, the attorney shall remain employed in such capacity for eighteen (18) months after receipt of the last monthly installment. If the attorney receives a lesser amount of education loan repayment assistance than the maximum amount authorized, the employment commitment shall be decreased proportionately, as determined by the board; provided, however, that the board may release the attorney from such obligation if it is demonstrated to the satisfaction of the authority that such attorney is unable to obtain employment in said specified capacities.
(3) In the event that the attorney breaches the conditions of the contract with the board, all monies distributed by the board under the contract during the eighteen (18) months immediately preceding the month in which the breach occurs shall at once become due and payable to the authority in cash with interest at a rate to be set by the board.
(4) The board shall attempt to operate in such a manner as to qualify for the federal tax benefits provided in 26 USCA Section 108.
(5) Nothing in this section shall preclude the obligations of the attorney to repay his or her student loan by cash or by service.
SECTION 8. Eligibility for education loan forgiveness; availability of funds. (1) No entitlement to funds is created by this act. Eligibility for education loan forgiveness shall be dependent on funding through appropriations, as well as all other conditions of eligibility, as determined by the board.
(2) In the event funds available to the board for any of the programs listed in this act are not sufficient for the full education loan forgiveness prescribed by the Legislature, education loan forgiveness payable on behalf of the individuals in that program shall be reduced by the board on a pro rata basis.
(3) In the event sufficient funds are available to the board, the board is authorized to increase the amount of the education loan forgiveness available to individuals in the programs listed in Section 6 of this act.
SECTION 9. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2011.
