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2018 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Education and Health
Subcommittee Higher Education

Saslaw (Chairman), Black, Chase, Cosgrove, Petersen

Clerk: Patty Lung
Staff: Thomas Stevens
Date of Meeting: January 25, 2018
Time and Place: Immed. Upon Adj. - Sen. Comm. Room 3, 5th Floor

S.B. 362

Patron: Howell


Qualified education loan servicers. Prohibits any person from acting as a qualified education loan servicer without first obtaining a license from the State Corporation Commission (SCC) and establishes procedures pertaining to such licenses. Banks, credit unions, and nonprofit institutions of higher education are exempt from the licensing provisions. The servicing of a qualified education loan encompasses (i) receiving any scheduled periodic payments from a qualified education loan borrower pursuant to the terms of a qualified education loan; (ii) applying the payments of principal and interest and such other payments, with respect to the amounts received from a qualified education loan borrower, as may be required pursuant to the terms of a qualified education loan; and (iii) performing other administrative services with respect to a qualified education loan. Qualified education loan servicers are prohibited from, among other things, (a) misrepresenting the amount, nature, or terms of any fee or payment due or claimed to be due on a qualified education loan, the terms and conditions of the loan agreement, or the borrower's obligations under the loan; (b) knowingly misapplying or recklessly applying loan payments to the outstanding balance of a qualified education loan; and (c) failing to report both the favorable and unfavorable payment history of the borrower to a nationally recognized consumer credit bureau at least annually if the loan servicer regularly reports information to such a credit bureau. Violations are subject to a civil penalty not exceeding $2,500. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2019, but provides that applications shall be accepted, and investigations commenced, by the SCC beginning October 1, 2018.

S.B. 368

Patron: Newman

Education preparation programs; reading specialists; dyslexia. Requires each education preparation program offered by a public institution of higher education or private institution of higher education that leads to a degree, concentration, or certificate for reading specialists to include coursework or other training in the identification of and the appropriate interventions, accommodations, and teaching techniques for students with dyslexia or a related disorder.

S.B. 394

Patron: Howell

Office of the Qualified Education Loan Ombudsman. Establishes the Office of the Qualified Education Loan Ombudsman (the Office) within the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. The Office's duties include (i) receiving, reviewing, and attempting to resolve complaints from qualified education loan borrowers; (ii) compiling and analyzing data on such complaints; (iii) assisting qualified education loan borrowers to understand their rights and responsibilities under the terms of qualified education loans; (iv) providing information regarding the problems and concerns of qualified education loan borrowers; (v) analyzing and monitoring the development and implementation of applicable laws and policies; and (vi) disseminating information concerning the availability of the Office to assist qualified education loan borrowers and any other participant in qualified education loan lending, with qualified education loan servicing concerns. The Office is further required to establish and maintain a qualified education loan borrower education course by December 1, 2019.

S.B. 438

Patron: Wexton

Virginia Student Loan Refinancing Authority; refinancing loan guaranty program. Establishes the Virginia Student Loan Refinancing Authority (the Authority), to be governed by a 10-member board, for the purpose of developing and implementing a program by which the Authority may guarantee the obligations of an individual who incurred qualified education loan debt as a Virginia student at an institution of higher education in the Commonwealth under loans that refinance such education loan debt. The Authority is authorized to issue bonds to finance its obligations under such loan guarantees.

S.B. 439

Patron: Wexton

Office of the Student Loan Ombudsman. Establishes the Office of the Student Loan Ombudsman within the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. The Office of the Student Loan Ombudsman is required to provide timely assistance to any student loan borrower of any student education loan in the Commonwealth. The Office of the Student Loan Ombudsman is further required to establish and maintain a student loan borrower education course that shall cover key loan terms, documentation requirements, monthly payment obligations, income-based repayment options, loan forgiveness, and disclosure requirements.

S.B. 568

Patron: Obenshain

Public institutions of higher education; student loan information. Requires any public institution of higher education that receives federal education loan information for a student enrolled in the institution to provide such student, at least once during each academic year, certain information and estimates regarding the student's federal education loans.

S.B. 638

Patron: Dunnavant

Virginia Community College System continued as the Virginia College System. Renames the Virginia Community College System as the Virginia College System. The bill also renames the Chancellor and State Board for Community Colleges as the Chancellor of the Virginia College System and State Board for the College System.

S.B. 824

Patron: Petersen

Public institutions of higher education; tuition and fee increases; public comment. Prohibits the governing board of each public institution of higher education from approving an increase in undergraduate tuition or mandatory fees without providing students and the public an opportunity to provide public comment at a board meeting at least 30 days prior to any vote on such an increase.

S.B. 870

Patron: DeSteph

Certain educational institutions; designation of governing boards. Renames as boards of trustees the boards of visitors of certain educational institutions in the Commonwealth, including baccalaureate public institutions of higher education.

S.B. 931

Patron: Lewis

Public institutions of higher education; crisis and emergency management plan; annual exercise. Requires each public institution of higher education to annually conduct a test or exercise in accordance with the protocols established by the institution's crisis and emergency management plan and certify in writing to the Department of Emergency Management that such a test or exercise was conducted. Under current law, each such institution is required to annually conduct a functional exercise in accordance with the protocols of such plan. The bill declares that the activation of its crisis and emergency management plan and completion of an after-action report by a public institution of higher education in response to an actual event or incident satisfies the requirement to conduct such a test or exercise.