House adopts Turner TOPS changes, adds amendment to let some students use TOPS for medical and dental school

House Bill 77, a rewrite of the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students (TOPS) offered by Representative Tanner Turner, moved through the House Monday with several floor amendments and a final passage vote.

Turner said the bill creates a fourth TOPS award level, called the excellence award, and alters eligibility and award amounts. "If you hit the excellence award in Louisiana, you would not pay any tuition or fees," Turner told the chamber.

The bill also accepted several amendments on the floor. Representative Jason Cruz offered a change to add the Classical Learning Test (CLT) as an alternative to SAT/ACT scores for award consideration, telling members "there's something called a concordance that compares the scores between the different tests." That amendment was adopted without objection.

On a contested floor amendment, the House adopted language that would allow certain Louisiana high school graduates who left the state for college and later return to pursue professional degrees in medicine or dentistry to access previously unused TOPS eligibility for those professional programs, under conditions including a required service period in Louisiana after completion. The amendment incorporated language from HB 275, a separate measure the floor added into HB 77; proponents said it was intended to attract medical professionals back to the state. Debate focused on fiscal impact and whether the change undermines TOPS's primary objective of retaining students in-state.

Representative Jordan and others pressed the author on fiscal estimates. Turner said the amendment carried a projected fiscal note that begins with roughly $367,000 in year one and grows in later years (the sponsor's stated five‑year total and…