HCS SCS SB 776 -- HIGHER EDUCATION SAVINGS PROGRAM

SPONSOR:  House (Harlan)

COMMITTEE ACTION:  Voted "do pass by consent" by the Committee on
Education-Higher by a vote of 13 to 0.

This substitute permits any member of the board of the Missouri
Higher Education Savings Program to select a proxy with full
voting privileges for one meeting at a time.  Up to three proxies
may be considered members for establishing a quorum.  The
substitute further requires that personally identifiable
information about participants in and beneficiaries of Missouri
Higher Education Savings Program accounts be kept confidential
and limits disclosure to administrative purposes.

FISCAL NOTE:  No impact on state funds.

PROPONENTS:  Supporters say that there have been a few times when
the six-person board, of whom four are department directors, has
had commitments arise that have made scheduled meetings
impossible.  If the members had been able to send a person from
their department in their place, meetings could have proceeded.
There may be a loophole in the privacy of the tuition-savings
program records; the substitute makes clear that any personally
identifiable information can only be used for administrative
purposes.

Testifying for the bill were Senator House; and Office of the
State Treasurer.

OPPONENTS:  There was no opposition voiced to the committee.

Becky DeNeve, Senior Legislative Analyst

Missouri House of Representatives
Last Updated October 11, 2002 at 9:04 am