GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2009

H                                                                                                                                                   D

HOUSE DRH50294-LE-228  (3/19)

Short Title:        Waive Comm. Coll. Tuition/Ex-Offenders.		(Public)
Sponsors:	Representatives Womble and Parmon (Primary Sponsors).
Referred to:

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT authorizing the state board of community colleges to waive tuition for juvenile offenders and prison inmates during the first three years after their release.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 115D‑5(b) reads as rewritten:

"(b)      In order to make instruction as accessible as possible to all citizens, the teaching of curricular courses and of noncurricular extension courses at convenient locations away from institution campuses as well as on campuses is authorized and shall be encouraged. A pro rata portion of the established regular tuition rate charged a full‑time student shall be charged a part‑time student taking any curriculum course. In lieu of any tuition charge, the State Board of Community Colleges shall establish a uniform registration fee, or a schedule of uniform registration fees, to be charged students enrolling in extension courses for which instruction is financed primarily from State funds; provided, however, that the funds. The State Board of Community Colleges may provide by general and uniform regulations for waiver of tuition and registration fees for persons not enrolled in elementary or secondary schools taking courses leading to a high school diploma or equivalent certificate, for training courses for volunteer firemen, local fire department personnel, volunteer rescue and lifesaving department personnel, local rescue and lifesaving department personnel, Radio Emergency Associated Citizens Team (REACT) members when the REACT team is under contract to a county as an emergency response agency, local law‑enforcement officers, patients in State alcoholic rehabilitation centers, all full‑time custodial employees of the Department of Correction, employees of the Department's Division of Community Corrections and employees of the Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention required to be certified under Chapter 17C of the General Statutes and the rules of the Criminal Justice and Training Standards Commission, trainees enrolled in courses conducted under the New and Expanding Industry Program, clients of sheltered workshops, clients of adult developmental activity programs, students in Health and Human Services Development Programs, juveniles of any age committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention by a court of competent jurisdiction,jurisdiction during the period of commitment and for three years after release, prison inmates, inmates during the period of commitment and for three years after release, members of the North Carolina State Defense Militia as defined in G.S. 127A‑5 and as administered under Article 5 of Chapter 127A of the General Statutes, and elementary and secondary school employees enrolled in courses in first aid or cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Provided further, tuition shall be waived for senior citizens attending institutions operating under this Chapter as set forth in Chapter 115B of the General Statutes, Tuition Waiver for Senior Citizens. Provided further, tuition shall also be waived for all courses taken by high school students at community colleges, including students in early college and middle college high school programs, in accordance with G.S. 115D‑20(4) and this section."

SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2009.