MORGANTOWN – The House Education Committee approved on Thursday a bill to create a new type of PROMISE Scholarship that would be funded not by the state but by tax-deductible donations.
HB 2308 is a bipartisan bill to creat the Business PROMISE+ Scholarship.
Any West Virginia business may donate to the scholarship fund and receive a tax credit equal to 50% of the donation.
Any business that donates $10,000 or more is deemed an eligible business that may sponsor and employ one or more eligible students during summers between college terms. The employer may select from a list of eligible students.
An eligible student is one who qualifies for the regular PROMISE Scholarship. The student may receive up to $15,000 per year, but not more than what the sponsoring business donated. A student may accept either PROMISE+ or PROMISE in any one term, but not both; the student could alternate between them but in any case the total eligibility is eight semesters.
The student may list up to three businesses they’re interested in working for. After graduation, the student must work in the state for the number of years they received the scholarship, with specified exceptions.
PROMISE and PROMSIE+ will be kept in separate state Treasury accounts. PROMISE+ may accept gifts, grants and contributions along with legislative appropriations; committee counsel said the intent is for the fund to rely entirely on donations and grants.
Delegates pointed out some areas where the bill is vague. It doesn’t specify pay, for instance. Committee counsel said that’s something the Higher Education Policy Commission could spell out in rulemaking.
An HEPC fiscal note says the program will cost $130,000 for two people to run the program. Delegates were puzzled how the program could get rolling until $130,000 in donations come in.
HEPC General Counsel Kristin Boggs told them the $130,000 is a long-range goal. It has the money and staff to run the program for now.
The bill lacked any provisions to prevent business owners from sponsoring their own children and getting a tax break for it.
So a bipartisan group of delegates offered an amendment saying a business may not sponsor any immediate family members of a principal owner of the business.
Members approved the amendment and then passed the bill. It goes next to House Finance.
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