House File 428 - Introduced HOUSE FILE 428 BY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY (SUCCESSOR TO HSB 134) A BILL FOR An Act relating to the national guard of the state concerning 1 armory board leases, persons subject to the code of military 2 justice, criminal justice reporting, and scholarship and 3 loan repayment programs. 4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 5 TLSB 1357HV (1) 89 dg/rn
H.F. 428 Section 1. Section 29A.58, subsection 1, Code 2021, is 1 amended to read as follows: 2 1. The armory board as lessee may lease property to be 3 used for armory purposes and other training of the national 4 guard. Leases may be made for any term not to exceed twenty 5 thirty years. Rents under such leases shall be paid from funds 6 appropriated for the support and maintenance of the national 7 guard. 8 Sec. 2. Section 29B.1, subsection 1, Code 2021, is amended 9 by striking the subsection and inserting in lieu thereof the 10 following: 11 1. A person shall not be punished for an offense under this 12 chapter unless the person is a member of the military forces of 13 the state and any of the following applies: 14 a. The person is on national guard duty or state active 15 duty, including between consecutive drill periods which are 16 less than twenty-four hours apart. For purposes of this 17 paragraph, a member of the state military forces is on national 18 guard duty or state active duty during travel to or from the 19 member’s duty location. 20 b. (1) The person is not on national guard duty or 21 state active duty but a nexus exists between the offense 22 and the military forces of the state. Only a commanding 23 officer holding a position in the grade of 0-6 and above may 24 impose nonjudicial punishment for an offense subject to this 25 paragraph. 26 (2) For purposes of this paragraph, the military forces 27 of the state shall have the burden to show the existence of a 28 nexus by a preponderance of the evidence and the term nexus 29 shall be liberally construed in favor of finding the existence 30 of a nexus. 31 Sec. 3. Section 29B.116B, Code 2021, is amended to read as 32 follows: 33 29B.116B Adjutant general report. 34 1. The adjutant general shall report annually, by January 35 -1- LSB 1357HV (1) 89 dg/rn 1/ 6
H.F. 428 15, to the governor and to the chairpersons and ranking 1 members of the general assembly’s standing committees on 2 veterans affairs on the number of offenses described in section 3 29B.116A, subsection 1 , which have been reported to civilian 4 law enforcement authorities in the prior year, if such offenses 5 were committed by a member of the state military forces against 6 another member of the state military forces while both are 7 subject to this code. The report shall provide such numbers 8 by type of offense. 9 2. The adjutant general may include in the annual report 10 described in subsection 1 the number of sexual abuse cases 11 reported to the United States department of defense that are 12 not otherwise required to be included in the annual report 13 pursuant to subsection 1. 14 Sec. 4. Section 261.86, subsection 6, Code 2021, is amended 15 to read as follows: 16 6. a. Notwithstanding section 8.33 , funds appropriated 17 for purposes of this section which remain unencumbered or 18 unobligated at the close of the fiscal year for which the funds 19 were appropriated shall not revert but shall be available for 20 expenditure for the following fiscal year upon the authority of 21 the adjutant general for purposes of this section and section 22 261.86A . 23 b. The adjutant general shall submit a report to the 24 governor and the general assembly by December 31 of each 25 year listing the science, technology, engineering, and 26 mathematics-related career fields the adjutant general plans to 27 focus on in providing educational incentives under this section 28 and section 261.86A using funds available under this subsection 29 for that fiscal year. 30 Sec. 5. NEW SECTION . 261.86A National guard STEM-related 31 recruitment and retention incentive programs. 32 1. a. The adjutant general has the authority under this 33 section to authorize the expenditure of unencumbered or 34 unobligated funds as described in section 261.86, subsection 35 -2- LSB 1357HV (1) 89 dg/rn 2/ 6
H.F. 428 6, to recruit or retain individuals who have completed or are 1 pursuing training in science, technology, engineering, and 2 mathematics-related military occupational specialties or air 3 force specialty codes by issuing awards through a national 4 guard student loan repayment program in accordance with 5 subsection 2 or by providing a scholarship award to an eligible 6 member of the national guard who is enrolled at an institution 7 defined in section 261.86, subsection 1, paragraph “d” , in a 8 master’s degree program that is in compliance with the federal 9 Edith Nourse Rogers STEM scholarship program established 10 under 38 U.S.C. §3320 in accordance with the requirements of 11 subsection 3. 12 b. The adjutant general can offer a recruitment or retention 13 incentive as authorized by this section in either the military 14 entrance process or within the final year of the service 15 member’s initial contract obligation pending the service member 16 signing a six-year extension. 17 2. a. A national guard student loan repayment program 18 is established to be administered by the college student aid 19 commission. Funds for loan repayment awards under the program 20 shall be expended upon the authority of the adjutant general. 21 b. An individual is eligible for a loan repayment award 22 under this subsection if the individual meets all of the 23 following conditions: 24 (1) Is a resident of the state and a member of an Iowa 25 army or air national guard unit while receiving loan repayment 26 awards issued pursuant to this subsection. 27 (2) Satisfactorily completed required initial active duty 28 training. 29 (3) Maintains satisfactory performance of duty upon return 30 from initial active duty training, including attending a 31 minimum ninety percent of scheduled drill dates and attending 32 annual training. 33 c. An applicant for an award under this subsection shall, in 34 accordance with the rules promulgated by the college student 35 -3- LSB 1357HV (1) 89 dg/rn 3/ 6
H.F. 428 aid commission, do all of the following: 1 (1) Complete and file an application for national guard 2 student loan repayment. The individual shall be responsible 3 for the prompt submission of any information required by the 4 national guard and the college student aid commission. 5 (2) File a new application and submit information as 6 required by the national guard and the college student aid 7 commission annually on the basis of which the applicant’s 8 eligibility for the renewed loan repayment will be evaluated 9 and determined. 10 d. The annual amount of an award to an applicant under 11 this subsection shall not exceed five thousand dollars or one 12 hundred percent of the applicant’s total federally guaranteed 13 Stafford loan amount under the federal family education loan 14 program or the federal direct loan program, the applicant’s 15 federal grad plus loans, or the applicant’s federal Perkins 16 loans, including principal and interest, whichever is less. An 17 applicant shall be eligible for a loan repayment award under 18 this subsection for not more than six consecutive years. 19 3. An applicant for a master’s degree scholarship award as 20 described in subsection 1 shall meet the criteria as provided 21 in section 261.86, subsection 1, except that the applicant can 22 be enrolled in a master’s degree program. The provisions of 23 section 261.86, subsections 2, 4, and 5, shall also apply to 24 scholarship awards made under this subsection. A scholarship 25 award provided to a recipient enrolled in a master’s degree 26 program under this subsection shall be limited to thirty-six, 27 or equivalent, credit hours of graduate study. 28 EXPLANATION 29 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 30 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 31 This bill concerns the national guard of the state. 32 Code section 29A.58, concerning the leasing of armories, is 33 amended to provide that property may be leased to be used for 34 armory purposes for any term not to exceed 30 instead of 20 35 -4- LSB 1357HV (1) 89 dg/rn 4/ 6
H.F. 428 years. 1 Code section 29B.1, concerning persons subject to the Iowa 2 code of military justice, is amended to provide that a person 3 shall not be punished for an offense under the code unless the 4 person is a member of the military forces of the state and 5 the person is on national guard duty or state active duty, 6 including between consecutive drill periods which are less than 7 24 hours apart, or the person is not on national guard duty or 8 state active duty but a nexus exists between the offense and 9 the military forces of the state. Current law provides that 10 the code applies to all members of the state military forces 11 performing national guard duty or state active duty and to all 12 members of the state military forces who commit an offense 13 during travel to or from the member’s duty location or during 14 intervals between consecutive periods of duty on the same day 15 or on consecutive days in which the victim of the offense is 16 another member of the state military forces. For purposes of 17 applying the code based on a nexus between the offense and the 18 military forces of the state, the bill provides that only a 19 commanding officer holding a position in the grade of 0-6 and 20 above may impose nonjudicial punishment for an offense and the 21 military forces of the state shall have the burden to show the 22 existence of a nexus by a preponderance of the evidence. 23 Code section 29B.116B, concerning an annual adjutant general 24 report on certain offenses, is amended to provide that the 25 adjutant general may also include in the report the number of 26 sexual abuse cases reported to the United States department of 27 defense that are not otherwise required to be reported. 28 Code section 261.86, concerning national guard service 29 scholarship programs, is amended. The bill authorizes the 30 adjutant general to expend appropriated funds which remain 31 unencumbered or unobligated at the close of a fiscal year in 32 the following fiscal year for purposes of Code section 261.86 33 and for purposes of recruitment and retention programs as 34 provided in new Code section 261.86A, created in the bill. The 35 -5- LSB 1357HV (1) 89 dg/rn 5/ 6
H.F. 428 Code section is further amended to require the adjutant general 1 to submit a report to the governor and the general assembly 2 by December 31 of each year listing the science, technology, 3 engineering, and mathematics-related career fields the adjutant 4 general plans to focus on in providing educational incentives 5 using funds available for that fiscal year. 6 New Code section 261.86A establishes two recruitment 7 and incentive programs to recruit or retain individuals 8 who have completed or are pursuing training in science, 9 technology, engineering, and mathematics-related military 10 occupational specialties or air force specialty codes. The 11 bill authorizes the adjutant general to expend unencumbered 12 or unobligated funds as described in Code section 261.86, 13 subsection 6, to recruit or retain individuals by offering 14 either a student loan repayment program or a master’s degree 15 scholarship award program that is in compliance with the 16 federal Edith Nourse Rogers STEM scholarship program. The bill 17 establishes a national guard student loan repayment program 18 to be administered by the college student aid commission and 19 establishes requirements for applicants and for loan repayment 20 awards. The bill also establishes requirements for the 21 master’s degree scholarship program. 22 -6- LSB 1357HV (1) 89 dg/rn 6/ 6