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Committee advances bill letting Board of Regents CEO negotiate some scholarship repayment cases
Summary
The Committee on Education voted to pass House Bill 24-85, which authorizes the chief executive officer of the State Board of Regents to negotiate and settle scholarship repayment obligations when recipients fail to meet service requirements and bars those debtors from receiving additional state scholarship funds under chapter 74, article 32. The bill would take effect July 1.
The Committee on Education voted to pass House Bill 24-85 on a voice vote after a brief discussion about administrative discretion.
Jason, the committee reviser, told members the bill would amend chapter 74, article 32 of the Kansas statutes to authorize the chief executive officer of the State Board of Regents to negotiate and settle scholarship repayment obligations when a recipient fails to meet a required service commitment. The measure also would prohibit an individual subject to a repayment obligation from obtaining additional funding through scholarships, grants or student financial aid programs governed by chapter 74, article 32. The reviser said the bill would take effect July 1 if enacted.
Committee members asked whether the text sets a minimum dollar threshold for pursuing collections. Members recalled prior conversations with Board of Regents representatives and said the decision was intentionally left to the board’s discretion in some cases. "We left that open for them to decide because there were times they were working with people and even though it’s a small balance, it was still maybe working out something to be able to pay," the vice chair said.
Representative Ruiz moved passage and the motion carried on a voice vote; a second was recorded but no roll-call tally appears in the transcript.
The committee advanced the bill to the next stage; members who raised questions said they expect KBOR to use the discretion sparingly and to report how negotiations are handled when the bill is worked further.
