Brief(1)
S.B. 510 addresses two issues. They are described below.
Residency for Fee Purposes at State Board
of Regents Institutions
The bill amends the law which defines residency for fee purposes at State Board of Regents institutions to add persons who have been Kansas domiciliary residents for fee purposes, who left Kansas for residency in another state or country, and who then returned to Kansas domiciliary residency within 12 months of their departure.
Credit Hour and Outdistrict State Aid for
Haskell Indian Nations University
The bill extends the community college credit hour and outdistrict state aid concept to Haskell Indian Nations University. Credit hour aid would be paid for Kansas resident student enrollments for freshman and sophomore level courses, as determined by the State Board of Education in consultation with the State Board of Regents. Outdistrict state aid would be paid for credit hours of outdistrict students if the students are either Kansas residents or are treated as Kansas residents for state aid purposes (under K.S.A. 71-407) and are not residents of Douglas County. However, outdistrict state aid would not be paid on behalf of a student who had 64 or more credit hours from any institution of postsecondary education or more than 72 credit hours in terminal-type nursing courses or freshman-sophomore level pre-engineering courses.
No outdistrict or credit hour state aid entitlement for Haskell could be based on enrollment in any subject or course, the principal part of which is taught at a location outside of Douglas County, unless specifically authorized by the State Board of Education.
Background
S.B. 510, as introduced, was recommended by the State Board of Regents. The Executive Director of the State Board of Regents said that persons addressed by this bill usually have not established residency in another state for fee purposes because most states have a durational residency requirement similar to the Kansas 12-month provision. The Executive Director said that denying these persons residency status is appropriate under the language in the current law, but that this treatment is unfair as such persons have not resided in the other state long enough to have acquired residency there.
The fiscal note states that the fiscal impact on the Regents institutions would be measured in terms of the amount of nonresident tuition waived. The fiscal note further states that it is impossible to make a reasonable estimate of the cost; but, presumably, it would be a small amount.
The House Education Committee amendment, requested by the State Board of Regents, clarified that "domiciliary" residence in Kansas, as defined in K.S.A. 76-729(c)(4), is required.
The House Committee of the Whole added the provisions regarding credit hour and outdistrict state aid to Haskell Indian Nations University. These provisions were the subject of H.B. 2770 which was assigned to the Select Committee on Higher Education. The fiscal note prepared by the State Department of Education estimated the FY 1999 cost to the state of the Haskell provisions to be $91,707--$76,587 for credit hour state aid and $15,120 for outdistrict state aid.
1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/fulltext-bill.html.