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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Fifth Legislature, Second Regular Session
higher education; 2022-2023.
Purpose
Makes statutory and session law changes relating to higher education necessary to implement the FY 2023 state budget.
Background
The Arizona Constitution prohibits substantive law from being included in the general appropriations, capital outlay appropriations and supplemental appropriations bills. However, it is often necessary to make statutory and session law changes to effectuate the budget. Thus, separate bills called budget reconciliation bills (BRBs) are introduced to enact these provisions. Because BRBs contain substantive law changes, the Arizona Constitution provides that they become effective on the general effective date, unless an emergency clause is enacted.
S.B. 1731 contains the budget reconciliation provisions for changes relating to higher education.
Provisions
Out of Community College District (CCD) Funding
1. Determines, beginning in FY 2023, the amount an out-of-CCD county must pay to a CCD out of the total out-of-CCD reimbursement formula amount to be equal to the product of:
a) the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) students attending CCD classes from the out-of-CCD county for the preceding year; and
b) the amount of the CCD's primary property tax levy from the prior year divided by the total number of FTE students enrolled in the CCD for the current year.
2. Requires, to be paid to the CCD from the state General Fund (state GF) beginning in FY 2023, an amount equal to the total out-of-CCD reimbursement formula amount minus the amount paid by the out-of-CCD county.
3. Directs the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) Staff to include, in the annual out-of-CCD county reimbursement notifications, the respective amounts an out-of-CCD county and the state must pay to each CCD.
4. Directs JLBC Staff, within 10 days after the general effective date, to:
a) revise the out-of-CCD calculations for FY 2023;
b) notify each out-of-CCD county board of supervisors of the revised amount it must reimburse to each CCD for FY 2023; and
c) notify each CCD that is eligible for reimbursement of the revised reimbursement amount from each county and the state for FY 2023.
Arizona Veterinary Loan Assistance Program (Veterinary Assistance Program)
5. Establishes the Veterinary Assistance Program within the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) and the Arizona Veterinary Loan Assistance Fund (Veterinary Assistance Fund), consisting of legislative appropriations, administered by ABOR.
6. Specifies that Veterinary Assistance Fund monies are continuously appropriated and exempt from lapsing.
7. Requires ABOR to use Veterinary Assistance Fund monies for the Veterinary Assistance Program and allows ABOR to retain up to three percent for program administration costs.
8. Allows a person to apply to ABOR to participate in the Veterinary Assistance Program if the person obtains a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from a veterinary college after January 1, 2023, and signs an agreement to:
a) for the following four years, remain and work as a full-time veterinarian in Arizona; and
b) for at least two of the four years, work in a nonprofit, county or municipal shelter or an agricultural practice in an area designated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as having a shortage.
9. Requires ABOR, at the conclusion of the four-year commitment, to determine if the veterinarian has satisfied the program agreement terms.
10. Directs ABOR to distribute Veterinary Assistance Fund monies to a veterinarian who satisfies program agreement terms in an amount equal to the lesser of $100,000 or the veterinarian's outstanding veterinary college educational loan balance.
11. Requires ABOR to distribute Veterinary Assistance Fund monies on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to the availability of monies and legislative appropriation.
12. Requires ABOR, by October 1 of each year, to:
a) compile a report that details how Veterinary Assistance Fund monies are being spent; and
b) submit the report to the Governor, President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives and provide a copy to the Secretary of State.
13. Authorizes ABOR to adopt rules to administer the Veterinary Assistance Program and Veterinary Assistance Fund.
14. Defines terms.
Tuition Scholarship for the Spouses of Military Veterans
15. Establishes the Spouses of Military Veterans Tuition Scholarship Fund (Spouses of Veterans Tuition Fund), consisting of legislative appropriations, administered by ABOR.
16. Specifies that Spouses of Veterans Tuition Fund monies are continuously appropriated and exempt from lapsing.
17. Directs ABOR to use Spouses of Veterans Tuition Fund monies, subject to availability, to award a tuition scholarship to a person who:
a) enrolls in an Arizona public university or community college;
b) is the spouse of an honorably discharged veteran of the U.S. armed forces;
c) is classified as an in-state student;
d) is an Arizona resident at the time of application and while receiving the tuition scholarship;
e) completes and submits the Free Application for Federal Student Aid for each year of the tuition scholarship;
f) complies with the standards of satisfactory academic progress of the university or community college in which the person enrolls; and
g) completes a federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 release form to authorize the release of personally-identifiable information required for continued eligibility determinations for each university or community college in which the person enrolls.
18. Specifies that a tuition scholarship amount is equal to the university's or community college's tuition and mandatory fees, reduced by any federal aid scholarships, public grants or other financial gifts, grants or aid the person receives.
19. Limits the tuition scholarship to four academic years or eight semesters and requires the scholarship to be used only:
a) for a certificate, an associate degree or a baccalaureate degree; and
b) to pay tuition and mandatory fees at an Arizona public university or community college.
20. Requires the spouse of a veteran to submit proof of their spouse's honorable discharge or general discharge under honorable conditions and requires the Arizona Department of Veterans' Services to verify that the person is the spouse of an honorably discharged veteran.
21. Specifies that a person who meets the eligibility requirements may apply to ABOR for a tuition scholarship in a manner prescribed by ABOR and requires ABOR to verify eligibility before awarding a scholarship.
22. Prohibits ABOR from awarding a subsequent tuition scholarship to a person who no longer meets eligibility requirements, until the person submits documentation showing that the person satisfies the requirements.
23. Specifies that tuition scholarships must be awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis and that ABOR may not award a scholarship if there are insufficient monies in the Spouses of Veterans Tuition Fund.
24. Authorizes ABOR to adopt rules to administer the tuition scholarships.
Mining, Mineral and Natural Resources Educational Museum (Mining Museum)
25. Requires, within 30 days of the general effective date, the Arizona Department of Administration to convey title and fee ownership of the Mining Museum's real property and improvements to the University of Arizona for nominal consideration.
26. Specifies that the University of Arizona must operate, manage and maintain the Mining Museum at the location where it is housed on August 9, 2017, as statutorily prescribed.
Miscellaneous
27. Continues, for FY 2023, to allow the required state match to be less than two dollars for each dollar raised by the surcharge on student registration fees assessed pursuant to the Arizona Financial Aid Trust Fund.
28. Specifies that state aid for CCD science, technology, engineering and mathematics and workforce development programs in FY 2023 is as prescribed in the FY 2023 General Appropriations Act.
29. Specifies that operating state aid for CCDs in FY 2023 is as prescribed in the FY 2023 General Appropriations Act.
30. Makes technical and conforming changes.
31. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Research
June 20, 2022
LB/KJA/slp