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Fellow graduate and professional students,

     Here is the latest legislative update from NAGPS.  It describes
several important issues, as listed in the table of contents.

Tim Benner, President
United Government of Graduate Students
University of Colorado at Boulder

UMC Room 327       Campus Box 207
(303) 492-5068     http://uggs.colorado.edu

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                      NAGPS Legislative Update
                         February 26, 1998
In This Update:

   * Senate Bill Could Extend Section 127 Benefits to All Students
   * State Student Incentive Grants on Chopping Block
   * General Accounting Office (GAO) Releases Student Debt Report
   * Campaign Finance Reform May Threaten Student Speech
   * Intellectual Property Bills on the Move in the House

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Senate Bill Could Extend Section 127 Benefits to All Students

On Monday, the Senate Finance Committee reported the passage of S. 1133, the
"Parent and Student Savings Account PLUS Act" to the full Senate. This bill
contains changes and modifications to the some of tax initiatives passed in
the last year's Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, in particular,

  1. retroactive extension of Section 127 benefits for all students through
     December 31, 2002,
  2. exclusion of the National Health Corps Scholarship Program from tax
     (NHCS scholarships are not considered scholarships under Section 117 by
     the IRS since they include guaranteed employment)
  3. expanded use of Education IRAs for elementary and secondary education
     as well as higher education
  4. exclusion of distributions from pre-paid state tuition programs

What You Can Do:

See our previous Legislative Update from February 11, 1998 at 
   http://www.nagps.org/NAGPS/lcc-page/updates98/leg-upd-980211.html#127 
for more details and ideas for advocacy efforts.

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State Student Incentive Grants on Chopping Block

As in previous years, President Clinton's FY 1999 budget eliminates funding
for the State Student Incentive Grant program, a program that provides
matching funds to states for grants to students who demonstrate financial
need. SSIG currently provides for grants to over 700,000 students, most of
whom come from families with an average income below the national poverty
level. In response to the Administration's proposal, Senators Reed (R-RI)
and Collins (D-ME) have introduced S. 1644, the "Leveraging Educational
Assistance Partnership Act", which will strengthen and reauthorize the SSIG
program by doing the following:

What You Can Do:

Call members of the Senate and ask them to help pass S. 1644 as part of
the Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. To get information on
key targets and contact information, visit

  http://www.nagps.org/NAGPS/lcc-page/updates98/leg-upd-980226.html#ssig

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General Accounting Office (GAO) Releases Student Debt Report

Last week, the General Accounting Office released a report entitled "Higher
Education: Students Have Increased Borrowing and Working to Help Pay Higher
Tuitions" . The report compared data from the National Postsecondary Student
Aid Study (NPSAS) from 1992-93 to the same data from 1995-96, and found that
"students have turned increasingly to borrowing to cope with rising
education costs". This report will be used by many in talking points and
debate regarding proposals to change the Higher Education Act this year.

The full 58-page report is available on the GAO web site at 
   http://www.gao.gov/new.items/he98063.pdf 

NAGPS remains very concerned about the growing amount of graduate and
professional student debt, and we encourage you to read this report and be
aware of the trends in student debt accumulation and some of the steps we
can take to minimize this growth in student debt. 

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Campaign Finance Reform Stalls; Student Free Speech Not Affected

The Senate was unable gain the necessary 60 votes on either side needed to
bring two campaign finance reform proposals to a vote on Thursday. Leaders
from both parties declared the campaign finance reform issue as
"effectively dead for the rest of the session". Student leaders should
remain on watch for these kinds of issues at the state level, says Robin
Hubbard of the Center for Campus Free Speech, since some versions of the
"Paycheck Protection Act"  presented at the state level may include
restrictions on student free speech through limits on the use of mandatory
student fees. NAGPS will keep you posted of developments in this area as
future events develop. 

Visit the NAGPS web site for details of the proposals at:
  http://www.nagps.org/NAGPS/lcc-page/updates98/leg-upd-980226.html#speech

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Intellectual Property Bills on the Move in the House

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Courts and Intellectual Property has
scheduled a hearing for Thursday at 10 a.m. Eastern in B-352 Rayburn to mark
up a number of bills, including H.R. 2281, the WIPO Copyright Treaties
Implementation Act; and H.R. 3209, the Online Copyright Infringement
Liability Limitation Act.

NAGPS believes that these bills appear to signal movement away from the use
of copyright for items merely displayed through a web browser on a temporary
basis.  This preserves "fair use" principles that are necessary for the
conduct of research and dissemination of information via the Internet. We
continue to watch these bills for new developments and changes.

Visit the NAGPS web site for details of the proposals at:
  http://www.nagps.org/NAGPS/lcc-page/updates98/leg-upd-980226.html#ip

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Send your comments on these updates to the NAGPS Legislative Team at
nagps-leg-team@nagps.org


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