[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2423 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2423

   To provide Federal Perkins Loan cancellation for public defenders.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 13, 2000

 Mr. Durbin (for himself, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Bingaman, Mr. Dodd, and 
Mr. Wellstone) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide Federal Perkins Loan cancellation for public defenders.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FEDERAL PERKINS LOAN CANCELLATION FOR PUBLIC DEFENDERS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The Department of Education has issued clarifications 
        that prosecuting attorneys are among the class of law 
        enforcement officers eligible for benefits under the Federal 
        Perkins Loan cancellation program.
            (2) Like prosecutors, public defenders also meet all the 
        eligibility requirements of the Federal Perkins Loan 
        cancellation program as set forth in Federal regulations.
            (3) Public defenders are law enforcement officers who play 
        an integral role in our Nation's adversarial legal process. 
        Public defenders fill the Supreme Court mandated role requiring 
        that counsel be appointed for the accused, by representing the 
        interests of criminally accused indigent persons.
            (4) In order to encourage highly qualified attorneys to 
        serve as public defenders, public defenders should be included 
        with prosecutors among the class of law enforcement officers 
        eligible to receive benefits under the Federal Perkins Loan 
        cancellation program.
    (b) Amendment.--Section 465(a)(2)(F) of the Higher Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087ee(a)(2)(F)) is amended by inserting ``, or as a 
full-time public defender for service to local, State, or Federal 
governments (directly or by a contract with a private, nonprofit 
organization)'' after ``agencies''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section shall apply 
to--
            (1) loans made under this part, whether made before, on, or 
        after the date of enactment of this Act; and
            (2) service as a public defender that is provided on or 
        after the date of enactment of this Act.
    (d) Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be construed to 
authorize the refunding of any repayment of a loan.
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