15.485  Court reporter equipment incentive program.
  1.  The authority shall establish and administer a court reporter equipment incentive program. The court reporter equipment incentive program shall consist of a student grant program and a graduate forgivable loan program. Financial assistance under the programs shall be provided from the court reporter equipment incentive fund created in section 15.486.
  2.  A person enrolled in a court reporter course at a school in Iowa is eligible to apply for a grant under the student grant program to be used for the purchase of court reporter equipment and software for the court reporter training at the school. 
  3.  a.  A person is eligible to apply for a loan under the graduate forgivable loan program if the person meets all of the following requirements:
  (1)  The person is a newly licensed court reporter within one year of graduation from a court reporter training program.
  (2)  The person is a resident of Iowa.
  (3)  The person agrees to work as a court reporter for five years after the date of the loan.
  b.  After five years from the date of the loan, if eligible under paragraph “a”, the loan is forgiven. If the loan is not forgiven, the authority shall establish a loan repayment schedule for repayment of the loan within five years. A loan not forgiven and defaulted on shall be referred to the department of revenue for collections.
  c.  A loan granted under this subsection shall be used to purchase court reporter equipment and software.
  4.  Applicants to the court reporter equipment incentive program who are doing court-related work shall receive priority over applicants who are not.
  5.  Available moneys shall be divided equally among all applicants during a fiscal year.
2024 Acts, ch 1178, §1
Referred to in §15.486
NEW section