Express News By Elena Mejia Lutz 4/28/2017
Facing strong opposition from veterans, the chairman of the Texas House Higher Education Committee backed away from his bill that would have significantly restricted their access to free college tuition.
“When I filed this bill, it started off as a bill that was going way too far in addressing a problem that we didn’t have enough information on,” state Rep. J. M. Lozano, R-Kingsville, conceded late Thursday.
Initially, HB 3766 would have required veterans to serve at least four years in the military to be eligible for the Hazlewood program, which pays for tuition and most fees at public institutions of higher education for up to 150 hours. Currently, veterans need to have served a minimum of only 181 days to be eligible. The bill also would have required veterans to take advantage of the program no later than 15 years after the veteran’s honorable discharge. Currently, there is no time limit. Imposing a time limit could affect the legacy part of the Hazlewood program, which allows qualified veterans to assign unused hours to their children.
Those limitations raised the ire of many veterans, who told Lozano what they thought in no uncertain terms.
More:
http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Lawmaker-backs-down-from-bill-that-would-limit-11108119.php
