MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2019 Regular Session
To: Universities and Colleges; Appropriations
By: Representative Miles
AN ACT TO ESTABLISH THE "MISSISSIPPI NATIONAL GUARD SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM" FOR THE PURPOSE OF ESTABLISHING LAST DOLLAR SCHOLARSHIPS AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR MEMBERS OF THE MISSISSIPPI ARMY AND AIR NATIONAL GUARD FOR ATTENDANCE AT PUBLICLY FUNDED STATE INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING; TO PRESCRIBE THE CRITERIA THAT QUALIFIES A STUDENT FOR ELIGIBILITY TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM; TO PROVIDE THAT THE BENEFITS OF THE PROGRAM ARE TRANSFERRABLE TO ANY STATE INSTITUTION OF HIGHER LEARNING OF ENROLLMENT; TO PROVIDE THAT A STUDENT IS NO LONGER ELIGIBLE FOR THE PROGRAM ONCE THE STUDENT EARNS A BACCALAUREATE DEGREE FROM A STATE INSTITUTION OF HIGHER LEARNING, AFTER EIGHT SEMESTERS OF SCHOLARSHIP ASSISTANCE OR AFTER DISCHARGE OR DETACHMENT FROM THE MISSISSIPPI NATIONAL GUARD; TO REQUIRE THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF STATE INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING, WITH ASSISTANCE FROM THE POSTSECONDARY FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE BOARD, TO PROVIDE AN ANNUAL EVALUATION REPORT TO THE LEGISLATURE BY SEPTEMBER 1 OF EACH YEAR, TO INCLUDE THE NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS, PROGRAM COSTS AND DEGREES SOUGHT BY AREAS OF MAJOR EMPHASIS; TO PROVIDE THAT THE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM SHALL BE ADMINISTERED BY THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF STATE INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING AND THE MISSISSIPPI NATIONAL GUARD; TO PROVIDE THAT NO GENERAL FUNDS APPROPRIATED AND EXPENDED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM SHALL BE USED TO REPLACE ANY OTHER FEDERAL, STATE, LOCAL OR INSTITUTIONAL FUNDS; TO PROVIDE THAT THE ESTABLISHMENT AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM IS CONTINGENT UPON LEGISLATIVE APPROPRIATIONS FOR SUCH PURPOSES; TO PROVIDE THAT THE APPROPRIATION FOR THE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM SHALL BE MADE TO THE STATE FINANCIAL AID OFFICE OF THE POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE BOARD AND SHALL BE IN ADDITION TO THE ANNUAL APPROPRIATION RECEIVED BY EACH STATE INSTITUTION OF HIGHER LEARNING; TO PROVIDE THAT ANY UNFUNDED TUITION SHALL BE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE STUDENT; TO PROVIDE THAT ANY UNEXPENDED FUNDS OF THE AMOUNTS APPROPRIATED SHALL NOT LAPSE INTO THE GENERAL FUND AT THE END OF THE FISCAL YEAR, BUT MAY BE CARRIED FORWARD TO THE SUCCEEDING FISCAL YEAR; TO BRING FORWARD SECTIONS 37-103-7, 37-103-15, 37-103-17 AND 37-106-39, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, FOR THE PURPOSE OF POSSIBLE AMENDMENTS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Sections 1 through 6 of this act shall be known as the "Mississippi National Guard Scholarship Program Act."
SECTION 2. (1) The Mississippi National Guard Scholarship Program is established to serve as a last dollar scholarship program for eligible students by providing financial assistance to students enrolled in a baccalaureate degree-seeking program at a publicly funded state institution of higher learning.
(2) To be eligible to participate in the program, a student must:
(a) Be a legal resident of the State of Mississippi as provided under Section 37-103-7 or Section 37-103-15, if legally married;
(b) Be an active enlisted or active reserve member of the Mississippi Army or Air National Guard;
(c) Be admitted to a state-supported institution of higher learning and apply for and accept all offers for all available federal, state and institutional aid;
(d) Enroll in a minimum of fifteen (15) credit hours in an accredited baccalaureate degree-seeking program offered at a state-supported institution of higher learning; and
(e) For participants employed full time, the student must provide a letter from the employer to certify employment and must maintain a minimum of nine (9) credit hours each semester, which may include, work-based learning credits in a credit-bearing approved program offered at one (1) of the state institutions of higher learning.
(3) Once admitted into the program, participating students must:
(a) Maintain a 2.5 GPA each semester; and
(b) Continue as an active enlisted or active reserve member of the Mississippi Army or Air National Guard.
(4) The benefits of the Mississippi National Guard Scholarship Program are transferrable, and may be used at any publicly funded state institution of higher learning. A student who transfers to another state institution of higher learning shall inform the registrar's offices of both institutions and the student's national guard unit of the transfer to ensure that the proper documentation is received.
(5) For programs eligible for the Mississippi National Guard Scholarship Program, participant eligibility will end once the student's total attempted credit hours equals the program's established and approved total credit hours for a baccalaureate degree, after eight (8) semesters of scholarship assistance or after discharge or detachment from the Mississippi National Guard.
SECTION 3. By September 1 of each program year, the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning, with assistance from the Postsecondary Education Financial Assistance Board, shall provide to the Legislature an evaluation of the program from the previous fiscal year. The report shall include the number of participants in the program, the cost associated with the program, degrees sought by areas of major emphasis and progress made by participants toward a degree.
SECTION 4. The Mississippi National Guard Scholarship Program shall be administered by the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning and the Mississippi National Guard, which shall establish a statewide application, along with rules and regulations to govern the program. The Postsecondary Education Financial Assistance Board shall receive and disburse funds for the program.
SECTION 5. (1) It is the intention of the Legislature that no general funds authorized to be expended for the purpose of the Mississippi National Guard Scholarship Program shall be used to replace federal funds, other state funds, local government funds and/or institutional funds, which are being used to assist students with the cost of tuition authorized under the provisions of this act and which are withdrawn and no longer available.
(2) The program shall be contingent upon the availability of funds appropriated by the Legislature. Funds appropriated for the program shall be in addition to the annual appropriations received by each state institution of higher learning for operations.
(3) (a) The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning shall determine, for each fall and spring semester, the state's actual share of the cost of the program for each state institution of higher learning.
(b) If legislative funding is not sufficient to meet the needs of all eligible students, the State Financial Aid Office shall reduce the allocation of funds to each institution in proportion to the state's actual share of the cost of the program for each state institution of higher learning, in order to determine the unfunded tuition cost at each institution and to calculate the reduced amount to allocate and distribute to each institution.
(4) Funding for the Mississippi National Guard Scholarship Program shall be appropriated to the State Financial Aid Office of the Postsecondary Education Financial Assistance Board.
(5) Any funds appropriated for this act which are not expended during the fiscal year for which they were appropriated shall not lapse into the State General Fund, but shall remain inviolate, and shall be carried forward for the same purposes during the succeeding fiscal year.
(6) Public and private entities that provide financial contributions to existing state institution of higher learning tuition guarantee programs may, and are encouraged to, continue to do so.
(7) In accordance with Section 37-103-25, each state institution of higher learning shall be solely responsible for setting tuition and fees to be paid by students.
(8) Students who participate in the program shall be eligible for institution reimbursement purposes of state appropriations, provided that said students meet established admission and attendance requirements.
SECTION 6. Section 37-103-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
37-103-7. For purposes of determining whether a person pays out-of-state or in-state tuition for attendance at universities and community and junior colleges, the residence of a person less than twenty-one (21) years of age is that of the father, the mother or a general guardian duly appointed by a proper court in Mississippi. If a court has granted custody of the minor to one (1) parent, the residence of the minor is that of the parent who was granted custody by the court. If both parents are dead, the residence of the minor is that of the last surviving parent at the time of that parent's death, unless the minor lives with a general guardian duly appointed by a proper court of Mississippi, in which case his residence becomes that of the guardian. A student residing within the State of Mississippi who, upon registration at a Mississippi institution of higher learning or community college, presents a transcript demonstrating graduation from a Mississippi secondary school and who has been a secondary school student in Mississippi for not less than the final four (4) years of secondary school attendance shall not be required to pay out-of-state tuition. This section shall not apply to the residence of a person as it relates to residency for voter registration or voting.
SECTION 7. Section 37-103-15, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
37-103-15. A married person may claim the residence status of his or her spouse, or he or she may claim independent residence status under the same regulations set forth in Section 37-103-13 as any other adult.
SECTION 8. Section 37-103-17, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
37-103-17. Members of the United States Armed Forces on extended active duty and stationed within the State of Mississippi and members of the Mississippi National Guard may be classified as residents, for the purpose of attendance at state-supported institutions of higher learning and community and/or junior colleges of the State of Mississippi. Resident status of such military personnel who are not legal residents of Mississippi, as defined in Section 37-103-13, shall terminate upon their reassignment for duty in the continental United States outside the State of Mississippi.
SECTION 9. Section 37-106-39, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
37-106-39. (1) There is established the Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers and Firefighters Scholarship.
(2) Except as provided in this section, if any Mississippi law enforcement officer, full-time firefighter or volunteer firefighter shall suffer or has suffered fatal injuries or wounds or become permanently and totally disabled as a result of injuries or wounds which occurred in the performance of the official and appointed duties of his or her office, his or her spouse, child or children shall be entitled to an eight-semester scholarship without cost, exclusive of books, food, school supplies, materials and dues or fees for extracurricular activities, at any state-supported college or university of his or her choice within this state.
(a) No child shall be entitled to receive benefits during any semester or quarter when said child has reached the age of twenty-three (23) years on the first day of said semester or quarter. However, any child who has begun the process of acquiring college credits under the provisions of this section prior to attaining the age of twenty-three (23) years shall be entitled to the full eight-semester scholarship if his or her college instruction was interrupted for any reason.
(b) Scholarship benefits shall not accrue hereunder to any person if the wounds or injuries suffered by any law enforcement officer, full-time firefighter or volunteer firefighter are self-inflicted or if his death is self-induced.
(3) Eligibility for renewal of the scholarship shall be evaluated each academic year at the end of each semester or term. As a condition for renewal, a student shall:
(a) Make steady academic progress toward a certificate or degree, as outlined in the school Satisfactory Academic Progress Standards and certified by the institution's registrar; and
(b) Have a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.5 calculated on a 4.0 scale at the end of each academic year.
(4) For the purposes of this section, these words and phrases shall be defined as follows:
(a) "Mississippi law enforcement officers" shall be defined as follows:
(i) "State highway patrolmen" means all law enforcement officers, regardless of department or bureau, of the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol.
(ii) "Municipal police officers" means all law enforcement officers of any municipality who are regular duty personnel on full-time status, auxiliary or reserve officers, or those serving on a temporary or part-time status.
(iii) "Sheriffs" and "deputy sheriffs" means all law enforcement officers of full-time duty status on a regular basis serving the sheriff's department of any county, deputy sheriffs who are engaged in administrative or civil duty, auxiliary or reserve deputies, or deputy sheriffs serving in a temporary capacity or part-time basis.
(iv) "Constables" means all duly elected constables of any beat of any county within the state while actually engaged in the performance of their duties concerning the criminal laws of the county and state.
(v) "Conservation officers" means all duly appointed game wardens employed by the State of Mississippi on a full-time duty status while actually engaged in the performance of their duties concerning the game laws of the state.
(vi) "Alcoholic Beverage Control Division agents and inspectors" means all duly appointed agents and investigators of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division of the Mississippi Department of Revenue on a full-time duty status while actually engaged in the performance of their duties concerning the alcoholic beverage control laws of the state.
(vii) Members of the National Guard serving as peace officers when ordered to state emergency duty under authority vested in the Governor by the Constitution and laws of the state.
(viii) "Tax commission scales enforcement officers" means all duly appointed scales enforcement officers of the Mississippi Department of Revenue on a full-time duty status while actually engaged in the performance of their duties.
(ix) Duly appointed agents of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics.
(x) Correctional, probation and parole officers employed by the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
(b) "Mississippi full-time firefighters" shall be defined as all firefighters employed by any subdivision of the State of Mississippi on a full-time duty status while actually engaged in the performance of their duties, and volunteer firefighters shall be defined as any volunteer firefighter registered with the State of Mississippi or a political subdivision thereof on a volunteer firefighting status while actually engaged in the performance of firefighting duties.
(c) "Child" or "children" means natural children, adopted children or stepchildren.
(d) "Spouse" means a person who was, at the time of the death of the decedent, legally married to a Mississippi law enforcement officer, full-time firefighter, or volunteer firefighter, or in the case of a law enforcement officer, full-time firefighter or volunteer firefighter who suffered fatal injuries or wounds, prior to or after March 13, 1990, who has not remarried.
(5) (a) Any law enforcement officer, full-time firefighter or volunteer firefighter claiming permanent and total disability shall be qualified or disqualified for a claim under this section based on examination and review of the following four (4) documents:
(i) A letter from the officer's or firefighter's former supervisor or employer stating whether the officer or firefighter is disabled as a result of injuries or wounds that occurred in the performance of the official duties of his office;
(ii) A statement from the officer's or firefighter's physician stating whether the officer or firefighter is disabled and the reason for that disability;
(iii) Verification from the Public Employees' Retirement System; and
(iv) Verification from the Social Security Administration.
(b) If the law enforcement officer, full-time firefighter or volunteer firefighter suffered fatal injuries or wounds, a claim under this section shall be based on examination and review of the following two (2) documents:
(i) A letter from the officer's or firefighter's former supervisor or employer stating whether he suffered fatal injuries in the performance of the official duties of his office; and
(ii) A death certificate.
(6) Any applicant qualified and desiring a scholarship under the provisions of this section shall apply in writing to the board. The board shall make inquiries into each application and shall make the investigation as it deems proper to establish and validate all claims before a scholarship is granted.
SECTION 10. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2019.