FISCAL NOTE

Senate Bill 253 as introduced could increase the administrative obligations of the Board of Optometric Scholarship Awards by an undetermined amount by requiring the Board to: (1) calculate an Optometric Shortage Index at least every two years; (2) provide an annual report, on or before the first day of December, to the various entities on the performance and accomplishments of the program; and (3) work with the Alabama Commission on Evaluation Services (ACES) to develop, track, and collect data and necessary information for the report.

Further, this bill expands the loan program, administered by the Board, by allowing qualified applicants from any optometric school accredited by the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education of the American Optometric Association to be awarded a loan, with first priority given to students attending the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Optometry and loan awards based on the in-state four-year cost of tuition and required fees at the UAB School of Optometry (current annual costs is $27,858).

Further, this bill provides that the penalty for breach of contract shall be equal to 100 percent of the remaining principal amount of all loans received by the recipient. In addition, this bill requires all monies received from recipients in repayment or recovered by the board from breach of contract to be retained by the board to fund future scholarships and loans.