SB 17 — AN ACT PROHIBITING AN INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION FROM WITHHOLDING TRANSCRIPTS.

Senate General Assembly RaisedFile Bill No.

17209 February Session, 2022 LCOSubstitute Senate Bill No.

53417 ReferredSenate, toMarch 30, 2022 The Committee on HIGHERHigher EDUCATIONEducation ANDand EMPLOYMENTEmployment ADVANCEMENTAdvancement Introducedreported by:through SEN.

(HED)SLAP ANof ACTthe PROHIBITING5th ANDist., INSTITUTIONChairperson OFof HIGHERthe EDUCATIONCommittee FROMon WITHHOLDINGthe TRANSCRIPTS.part of the Senate, that the substitute bill ought to pass.

AN ACT PROHIBITING AN INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION FROM WITHHOLDING TRANSCRIPTS.

(NEW) (Effective July 1, 2022) (a) As used in this section:section, "debt" means an obligation, claim or sum that is due or alleged to be due to an institution of higher education from a student.

(1) "Public institution of higher education" means the constituent units of the state system of higher education identified in subdivisions (1) and (2) of section 10a-1 of the general statutes;

(2) "Independent institution of higher education" has the same meaning as provided in subsection (a) of section 10a-173 of the general statutes;

and (3) "Debt" means an obligation, claim or sum that is due or alleged to be due to a public institution of higher education or independent institution of higher education from a student.

LCO(b) No institution of higher education in the state shall (1) upon receiving arequestor permissionfrom astudent who iscurrentlyorwas formerly enrolled at such institution, refuse to provide a transcript to an employeror prospective employer ofsuchstudent because suchstudent owes a debt, (2) condition the provision of a transcript to an employer or prospective employer on the payment of a debt, (3) charge a fee for the provision of a transcript to an employer or prospective employer that is higher than the actual cost of providing the transcript because sSB17 / File No.

534209 1 ofsSB17 2File (b)No. No public institution of higher education or independent institution of higher education shall (1) refuse to provide a transcript to a student who is currently or was formerly enrolled at such institution because such student owes a debt, (2) condition the provision of a transcript to such student on the payment of a debt, (3) charge a fee for theprovisionofatranscript tosuchstudent that ishigherthanthe actual cost of providing the transcript because such student owes a debt, or (4) use the issuance of transcript as a method to collect a debt.

209 such student owes a debt, or (4) use the issuance of transcript as a method to collect a debt.

Section 1 July 1, 2022 New section StatementHED ofJoint Purpose:Favorable Subst.

TosSB17 prohibit/ anFile institutionNo. of higher education from withholding a student's transcript for failure to pay a debt owed to the institution.

[Proposed209 deletions2 aresSB17 enclosedFile inNo. brackets.

Proposed209 additionsThe following Fiscal Impact Statement and Bill Analysis are indicatedprepared byfor underline,the exceptbenefit thatof whenthe members of the entireGeneral textAssembly, solely for purposes of ainformation, billsummarization orand resolutionexplanation orand ado sectionnot ofrepresent athe billintent orof resolutionthe isGeneral new,Assembly itor iseither notchamber underlined.]thereof LCOfor No.any purpose.

534In 2general, fiscal impacts are based upon a variety of 2informational sources, including the analyst’s professional knowledge.

Whenever applicable, agency data is consulted as part of the analysis, however final products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any specific department.

OFA Fiscal Note State Impact:

Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 23 $ FY 24 $ Board of Regents for Higher Other - Revenue Minimal Minimal Education Loss UConn Other - Revenue See Below See Below Loss Municipal Impact:

None Explanation The bill, which establishes requirements regarding postsecondary transcripts sought by employers or potential employers, is anticipated to result in an annual revenue loss to the University of Connecticut and the Board of Regents beginning in FY 23.

The bill is likely to reduce the amount of debt from current and past students that institutions collect.

The University of Connecticut currently require students to pay off institutional debts, or in some cases to make progress payments, before a transcript is issued for any reason, while the Board of Regents institutions may release transcripts directly to employers when a student has debt.

The bill requires all institutions of higher education to provide a transcript to an employer or prospective employer:

(1) regardless of any student debt to the institution,and(2)onthesame termsasothertranscript requests related to students who do not owe the institution.

The extent of the constituent units' revenue loss associated with the bill depends on to what extent employer-driven transcript needs sSB17 / File No.

209 3 sSB17 File No.

209 currently result in students paying off institutional debt, which is unknown.

The impact to the Board of Regents institutions is likely to be minimal, given current practices, while the impact to the University of Connecticut may be higher but cannot be determined.

Employment-relatedtranscriptrequestsreceivedbytheUniversityof Connecticut totaled 2,052 over the last year (to date), approximately 11 percent of all transcript requests.

In the 2020-21 academic year, 10,849 current and former UConn students collectively had debts to the institutiontotaling $19.3million.

ComparableinformationfortheBoard of Regents institutions is unavailable.

The Out Years The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would continue into the future subject to inflation in transcript fees, changes in the number of transcript requests for employment reasons, and the level of institutional debt held by students.

sSB17 / File No.

209 4 sSB17 File No.

209 OLR Bill Analysis sSB 17 AN ACT PROHIBITING AN INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION FROM WITHHOLDING TRANSCRIPTS.

SUMMARY This bill prohibits Connecticut higher education institutions from:

1.

refusing to provide a transcript to a student’s employer or prospective employer upon the request or permission of a current or formerly enrolled student because he or she owes the institution a debt, 2.

conditioning a transcript’s release to an employer or prospective employer upon debt payment, 3.