MICHIGAN RECONNECT GRANTS                          H.B. 6129 (H-1) & 6130 (H-2):

                                                                     SUMMARY OF DISCHARGED BILL

House Bill 6129 (Substitute H-1 as discharged)

House Bill 6130 (Substitute H-2 as discharged)

Sponsor:  Representative Ben Frederick (H.B. 6129)

               Representative Sarah Anthony (H.B. 6130)

House Committee:  Appropriations

Senate Committee:  Economic and Small Business Development (discharged)

CONTENT

House Bill 6129 (H-1) would amend the Michigan Reconnect Grant Act to do the following:

-- Prescribe additional intended goals for the Reconnect program and Reconnect initiative.

-- Amend the definition of "eligible institution" by modifying the information that would have to be included in the written report submitted to Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) each year and the required academic supports that would have to be provided to Michigan Reconnect grant students who needed academic remediation.

-- Amend the definition of "Michigan Reconnect grant student" to mean a student admitted to and enrolled in an eligible institution, regardless of whether the student is receiving a Michigan Reconnect grant.

-- Require LEO to ensure that navigators were instructed to inform Michigan Reconnect grant applicants of any relevant policies for earning credit for prior learning and to connect applicants to their local workforce development agency for additional support services and registration with their local career services office.

-- Require LEO to ensure that all eligible institutions identified and reported at the student level any attempts and completion for gateway English and mathematics courses in a form and manner as prescribed by the Center for Educational Performance and Information.

-- Require LEO to establish a process to allow eligible institutions to be reimbursed for awarding credit for prior learning at a rate of $80 per credit hour for credit awarded to Michigan Reconnect grant students for specified types of credit for prior learning.

-- Require LEO to encourage eligible instructions across the State to adopt consistent placement policies to better connect education and training demands in the labor market.

-- Require LEO to facilitate maximum four-year completion rates for Michigan Reconnect grant students and to implement the specified program requirements.

-- Change from February 1 to June 1 the date by which LEO must provide a written report detailing the progress of the Michigan Reconnect grant program.

-- Include in the annual report provided by LEO the amount of credit awarded for prior learning by eligible institutions and the mean and median grant amounts award from the Michigan Reconnect grant program.

-- Create the Michigan Center for Adult College Success in LEO to serve as the State's primary resource for research, support models, and best practices on ensuring adult enrollment and completion of college degrees and certificated at eligible institutions.

House Bill 6130 (H-2) would amend the Michigan Reconnect Grant Recipient Act to do the following:

-- Prescribe additional intended goals for the Reconnect program and Reconnect Initiative.

-- Remove or modify various terms and definitions.

-- Modify the requirements to establish continuing eligibility for a Michigan Reconnect grant at an eligible institution.

-- Modify the calculation for the maximum amount a student can be awarded for a Michigan Reconnect grant.

-- Require the approval of the relevant eligible institution for a Michigan Reconnect grant student to take a leave of absence.

-- Specify that repayment of Michigan Reconnect grant money received by a Michigan Reconnect grant student who withdrew from a course of study or degree program would have to be determined in accordance with the Department of Treasury's State program procedures manual for financial aid professionals.

-- Rename the Reconnect Private Training Learning Initiative to the Reconnect Short-Term Training Program.

-- Eliminate a requirement that LEO ensure an applicant to the Reconnect Private Training Learning Initiative was included on the State's eligible training provider list as a qualified private training institution.

-- Remove a requirement that a skills scholarship may be available only if the training program participant has applied for all other gift aid.

-- Remove a requirement that the annual appropriation for the first full year of the Reconnect Private Learning Initiative must not exceed $1.5 million.

The bills are tie-barred.

MCL 390.1701 et al. (H.B. 6129)                        Legislative Analyst:  Olivia Ponte

MCL 390.1711 et al. (H.B. 6130)

FISCAL IMPACT

The bills would increase the State's cost to operate the Michigan Reconnect Program by an unknown amount and would have no fiscal impact on local units of government. The bill would allow for colleges to be reimbursed at a rate of $80 per credit awarded to Reconnect students who had certain prior learning experiences. There are no data as how many Michigan residents have eligible prior learning experiences that would qualify, so the fiscal impact of this provision of House Bill (HB) 6129 is unknown.

The Michigan Reconnect Program has a $55.0 million appropriation in fiscal year (FY) 2022-23, an amount that was unchanged from the previous year. The program did not spend the majority of this appropriation in previous years, as the program is relatively new. The Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity has indicated that it believes the full $55.0 million will be necessary to support the program in the current and future fiscal years. If this is the case, and the full appropriation amount is needed to operate the program under current law, the additional reimbursements contained in HB 6129 could require a future supplemental appropriation or legislative transfer to ensure the program had sufficient funding. Presently, however, it is unknown whether additional funds would be necessary to cover increased costs from this reimbursement.

The bills also would enact a process for the Michigan Center for Student Success to establish a four-year adult completion rate baseline. Costs associated with this process would presumably be covered by a portion of the $9.2 million appropriation the Center received in the FY 2022-23 budget.

Date Completed:  12-7-22                                        Fiscal Analyst:  Josh Sefton

This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.