On November 15, the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor voted unanimously to approve the College Opportunity and Affordability Act (H.R. 4137), which provides, in part, for loan repayment assistance to civil legal aid lawyers.

Section 425 of the bill creates a loan repayment assistance program to be administered by the Department of Education, which would provide up to $6,000 a year--$40,000 for a lifetime--in educational debt relief for full-time civil legal aid attorneys. Recipients will be required to remain employed as civil legal aid attorneys for three years, or be required to repay any benefits received. Benefits would be awarded on a first-come first-served basis, with priority given to lawyers with five years of experience or less.

Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., Chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, sponsored the bill with committee member Rep. Rubén Hinojosa, D-TX. Rep. Howard McKeon, R-Calif., Ranking Member of the committee, also championed the bill and credited Rep. Miller for the bipartisan way he worked to move it through committee.

The U.S. Senate has already approved this provision as part of the Higher Education Amendments Act (S.1642), which it passed in late July of this year. Senator Tom Harkin, D-IA, originally proposed this program in a separate bill he introduced in April.

In September, a different bill providing for loan repayment assistance to civil legal aid attorneys was signed into law. That bill, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (H.R. 2669), would forgive the remaining debt balance for 10-year public service employees, which includes civil legal aid lawyers. Other provisions of the bill would provide for drastically reduced monthly payments for holders of certain federal loans, with the remaining balance to be forgiven after 25 years.

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