75th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2009 Regular Session
 
NOTE:  Matter within  { +  braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within  { -  braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
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 LC 2354
 
                     Senate Joint Memorial 4
 
Sponsored by Senator METSGER (at the request of Bert Key)
 
 
                             SUMMARY
 
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure as
introduced.
 
  Urges Congress to enact legislation that requires all public
institutions of higher education and private institutions that
receive federal funding to waive mandatory fees and tuition for
family members of servicemembers killed or severely disabled in
line of duty.
 
                         JOINT MEMORIAL
To the President of the United States and the Senate and the
  House of Representatives of the United States of America, in
  Congress assembled:
  We, your memorialists, the Seventy-fifth Legislative Assembly
of the State of Oregon, in legislative session assembled,
respectfully represent as follows:
  Whereas next to the servicemember, no one has sacrificed more
for the liberties enjoyed in this country than the family members
of servicemembers killed in the line of duty or severely disabled
from injuries received in the line of duty; and
  Whereas the people of this country recognize their obligation
to care for not only the servicemembers who have borne the burden
of battle but also for their family members who must now live
with a loss or become a servicemember's caregiver; and
  Whereas the Congress of the United States recognized the
importance of education of family members of deceased and
severely disabled servicemembers by enacting the Survivors' and
Dependents' Educational Assistance Program; and
  Whereas because the costs of a college education continue to
escalate, the stipend provided by the Survivors' and Dependents'
Educational Assistance Program is insufficient to cover the costs
of a college education; and
  Whereas it is well recognized that for an ordinary middle class
American family, it takes two incomes to raise and educate a
family; and
  Whereas while the waiver of mandatory fees and tuition at
colleges and universities will not bring back a deceased
servicemember or restore the health and well-being of a severely
disabled servicemember, it would, when combined with the
Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance Program, bring
a college education well within reach of the family members of a
deceased or severely disabled servicemember; and
 
 
  Whereas Oregon has enacted legislation that provides various
forms of mandatory fee and tuition waivers for servicemembers;
and
  Whereas a mandatory fee and tuition waiver involves minimal
cost because there is often a vacant seat in almost every college
classroom that a family member of a deceased or severely disabled
servicemember could fill; and
  Whereas it has been estimated that there was a return of $7 for
every $1 invested in the World War II G.I. Bill, and that the
return on a virtually cost-free investment in mandatory fee and
tuition waivers has the potential of an even greater return; and
  Whereas a nationwide mandatory fee and tuition waiver will not
eliminate the education deficit in this country, but it will put
deserving students in college classrooms; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Legislative Assembly of the State of
  Oregon:
  (1) The Seventy-fifth Legislative Assembly urges the Congress
of the United States to enact legislation that requires all
public institutions of higher education and private institutions
of higher education that receive federal funding to waive
mandatory fees and tuition for family members of servicemembers
killed or severely disabled in the line of duty.
  (2) A copy of this memorial shall be sent to the President of
the United States, to the Senate Majority Leader, to the Speaker
of the House of Representatives and to each member of the Oregon
Congressional Delegation.
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