R 90, Drug Penalty Opposition Act
The Public Affairs Committee reported the bill to Senate by counted vote, 0-4, PA-10
Adopted by roll call vote (Adopted: 24-11-1; 16 absent)
Online Text
(as of 2-26-2007, as initially introduced)
RESOLUTION 90
A RESOLUTION TO BE ENTITLED
An act to repeal the aid elimination penalty from the higher education act
Short Title: Drug Penalty Opposition Act
(Public)
Sponsored
by: Senators Potter,
Doucette, and Gilbert
Signatories:
Lutheran Student Fellowship
President John Matthew Wendler, College Democrats President Tara Ilsley,
Raleigh Wesley Foundation President William Alexander Ronke, College
Libertarians President Cameron Gower, Engineering Senior Senate candidate Jared
McCormick
First
Referred
to:
__________________________________________________________.
WHEREAS, Congress passed the
Higher Education Act (HEA) in 1965 for the purpose of expanding educational
opportunities through the creation of federal grant and loan programs; and,
WHEREAS, the aid elimination
penalty, added as an amendment to the HEA in 1998, automatically strips
students of financial aid for all drug convictions, including misdemeanor and
marijuana possession; and,
WHEREAS, the National
Institute on Drug Abuse reported that high school grads not attending college
are twice as likely to have used crack and are three times more likely to have
used crystal meth in the last year than their same-age peers who are enrolled
in college; and,
WHEREAS, this policy wrongly emphasizes
punishment over treatment; and,
WHEREAS, no other offenses,
including violent crimes such as murder or rape, result in a student loosing
federal aid eligibility; and,
WHEREAS, nearly 200,000 students
nation wide have become ineligible for federal financial aid under that aid
elimination penalty since its enactment; and,
WHEREAS, North Carolina is
above the national average for percentage of applicants affected by the penalty
since 5,323 North Carolinians, or one out of every 360 applicants in the state
have been denied aid due to drug convictions; and,
WHEREAS, the aid elimination
penalty unfairly affects lower class students, since wealthier students do not
rely on financial aid; and,
WHEREAS, the aid elimination
penalty is contrary to the original spirit of the original Higher Education
Act, which was intended to expand access to education; now therefore be it
RESOLVED, that
the North Carolina State University Student Senate calls upon the 110th
United States Congress to repeal the Aid Elimination Penalty from the Higher
Education Act; and be it further
RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution is
transmitted to each member of