By Dan Martin
Filed Tuesday, May 08, 2007 at 10:27 AM
After long months of debate, the Missouri House passed Governor Matt Blunt's controversial MoHELA plan yesterday. The vote was 91-64, with voting mostly along party lines. Labels: Schools, State_House
Under the passed plan, $350 million of the assets of the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority will be sold off to third parties, such as Sally Mae. The money from the sale will then be used to pay for facility upgrades and construction projects at public Missouri colleges.
Democrats have opposed the plan, claiming that it will reduce the availability of low-cost student loans. "We still have not gotten adequate documentation that this won't harm Missouri students," State Rep. Rachel Storch (D-St. Louis) told PubDef.
Storch also noted that the $350 million in public assets will be sold to private loan firms, many of which (including Sally Mae) are currently being investigated. "Why should we sell our successful loan program to third party firms that are under Congressional investigation?" Storch asked.
State Rep. Clint Zweifel (D-Florissant) is currently leading an effort to oppose the bill by gathering the 87,000 signatures needed to put the plan on the 2008 ballot in order for the public to decide.
Under the Missouri Constitution, individuals with the requisite number of signatures may file referendum petitions that place bills passed by the General Assembly on the statewide ballot. Zwiefel and his allies have until August 28 to acquire enough signatures.
1 Comments:
A lot of democrats are getting this from Jay Nixon, urging us to e-mail governor blunt. So is Nixon on the same page as Zweifel, or are tyhey working as conflicting purposes and strategy?
"Gov. Blunt, Don't Touch MOHELA
With tuition consistently on the rise, a college education is moving further out of reach for more Missourians each year. Under Governor Matt Blunt, working families now pay 46% of their income to send a child to college. Recently, the Missouri Legislature passed a plan that would make this situation even worse, stripping away hundreds of millions of dollars from MOHELA, the agency that provides low-interest student loans to middle-class families.
Now Matt Blunt has an important decision to make: He can either stand with the thousands of middle-class Missourians struggling to afford a college education and veto this bill, or sign this misguided bill into law.
Tell Matt Blunt that Missourians don't want him to touch MOHELA -- forward him an email now!
5/09/2007 5:23 PM
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