HSB 255 (LSB 2801YC (2) 88)

HOUSE FILE _____ 

BY  (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS BILL BY CHAIRPERSON GRASSLEY)

A BILL FOR

An Act expanding the national guard educational assistance program to provide educational assistance to national guard members who are enrolled in a curriculum leading to a doctor of medicine degree or a doctor of osteopathic medicine degree.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 261.86, subsection 1, unnumbered paragraph 1, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   A national guard educational assistance program is established to be administered by the college student aid commission for members of the Iowa national guard who are either enrolled as undergraduate students in a community college, an institution of higher learning under the state board of regents, or an accredited private institution, or enrolled as postgraduate students in accredited medical or osteopathic schools. The college student aid commission shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 17A to administer this section. An individual is eligible for the national guard educational assistance program if the individual meets all of the following conditions:
    Sec. 2.  Section 261.86, subsection 1, paragraph d, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   d.  Is enrolled in and is maintaining satisfactory academic progress as an either of the following: 
   (1)  An undergraduate student in a community college as defined in section 260C.2, an institution of higher learning under the control of the board of regents, or an accredited private institution as defined in section 261.9, and is maintaining satisfactory academic progress.
   (2)  A postgraduate student enrolled in a school of medicine accredited by the liaison committee on medical education or an osteopathic medical school accredited by the commission on osteopathic college accreditation of the American osteopathic association in a curriculum leading to a doctor of medicine degree or a doctor of osteopathic medicine degree.
    Sec. 3.  Section 261.86, subsection 3, Code 2019, is amended by adding the following new paragraph:
   NEW PARAGRAPH.  c.  Notwithstanding paragraph “a”, up to five eligible members of the national guard annually, as determined by the adjutant general, who meet the requirements of subsection 1, paragraphs “a” through “c”, “e” through “g”, and paragraph “d”, subparagraph (2), shall receive educational assistance under this section in an amount not to exceed twenty thousand dollars annually for not more than four years. Educational assistance under this paragraph is conditional on the eligible member completing a residency program and serving five years in the Iowa national guard as a medical corps officer while practicing medicine in Iowa. If an eligible member fails to fulfill the conditions of this paragraph, the eligible member shall be subject to repayment to the commission of the amount of educational assistance received under this section plus interest as specified by rule.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   This bill provides that up to five eligible members of the national guard annually, as determined by the adjutant general, who meet the requirements of the national guard educational assistance program but who are enrolled in a postgraduate course of study at an accredited school of medicine or at an accredited osteopathic medical school leading to a doctor of medicine degree or a doctor of osteopathic medicine degree shall receive educational assistance in an amount not to exceed $20,000 annually for not more than four years. 
   The eligible member must then complete a residency program and serve five years in the Iowa national guard as a medical corps officer while practicing medicine in Iowa. A guard member who fails to fulfill these conditions must repay to the commission the amount of educational assistance received plus interest.