GEORGIA CONSTITUTION OF 1976
(text as ratified by Georgia voters on November 2, 1976)

 

 

 

ARTICLE X.

RETIREMENT SYSTEMS AND EDUCATIONAL SCHOLARSHIPS

SECTION I.

RETIREMENT SYSTEMS

Paragraph I. Teacher Retirement SystemTaxation For. The powers of taxation may be exercised by the State through the General Assembly and by counties and municipalities, for the purpose of paying pensions and other benefits and costs under a teacher retirement system or systems; provided no indebtedness against the State shall ever be created for the purpose herein stated in excess of the taxes lawfully levied each fiscal year under Acts of the General Assembly authorized hereunder.

Paragraph II. Retirement System for Employees. The General Assembly is authorized to establish an actuarially sound retirement system for employees under a merit system.

Paragraph III. Public School Employees Retirement System. The General Assembly is hereby authorized to provide by law for the creation of an actuarially sound, participating retirement system for all employees of public schools who are not covered by the Teachers' Retirement System including, but not limited to, school bus drivers, school lunch-room personnel, school maintenance personnel and school custodial personnel. The General Assembly is further authorized to provide in said Act creating such retirement system, or in any amendatory Acts thereto, for the expenditure of State funds and the funds of county and independent boards of education in support of said retirement system, in such manner as the General Assembly shall determine.

Paragraph IV. Firemen's Pension System. The powers of taxation may be exercised by the State through the General Assembly, and the counties and municipalities, for the purpose of paying pensions and other benefits and costs under a firemen's pension system or systems. The taxes so levied may be collected by such firemen's pension system or systems and disbursed therefrom by authority of the General Assembly for the purposes herein authorized.

Paragraph V. Increased Retirement Benefits Authorized. (a) Any other provisions of this Constitution to the contrary notwithstanding, the General Assembly is hereby authorized to provide by law, from time to time, for the increase of retirement or other benefits of retired persons who have retired or who retire in the future pursuant to any retirement system, annuity and benefit fund system, pension system or any similar system, which such system was created by law and such law provided that such system be funded wholly or partly from fines and forfeitures. No formerly retired person shall receive any greater benefits than those benefits provided by law to be received upon retirement by members of the system who have not retired, nor shall any such formerly retired person receive any increased benefits unless all formerly retired persons entitled to receive such increased benefits participate pro rata therein.

(b) Any other provisions of this Constitution to the contrary notwithstanding, the General Assembly is hereby authorized to provide by law, from time to time, for the increase of retirement or pension benefits of retired public schoolteachers who retired pursuant to a retirement or pension system of a county, municipality or local board of education. The General Assembly shall be authorized to expend State funds for such purposes in such manner and pursuant to such terms and conditions as the General Assembly may provide by law.

(c) Any other provisions of this Constitution to the contrary notwithstanding, the General Assembly is hereby authorized to provide by law, from time to time, for the increase of retirement or pension benefits of retired persons who retired pursuant to any retirement system, annuity and benefit fund, pension system or any similar system heretofore or hereafter created by law to which the General Assembly appropriates funds. The General Assembly shall be authorized to appropriate funds for the purpose of increasing the retirement or pension benefits of such retired persons.

SECTION II.

EDUCATIONAL SCHOLARSHIPS, LOANS, AND GRANTS

Paragraph I. Authorization. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Constitution, the General Assembly is hereby authorized to provide by law for a program or programs of loans, scholarships and grants, and the insuring of loans and payment of interest on loans to citizens of this State for educational purposes. The General Assembly is authorized to provide for all matters relative to such programs. Taxes may be levied and public funds expended for such purposes.

Paragraph II. Grants for Education. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution, the General Assembly may by law provide for grants of State, county or municipal funds to citizens of the State for educational purposes, in discharge of all obligation of the State to provide adequate education for its citizens.

Paragraph III. State Medical Education Board. There is hereby created a board to be known as the State Medical Education Board to consist of five members, one of whom shall be the President of the Medical Association of Georgia, one of whom shall be the immediate past President of the Medical Association of Georgia, and three members to be appointed by the Governor, who shall be qualified electors of the State of Georgia. The members of the board in office on the effective date of this Constitution shall serve out the remainder of their respective terms. Thereafter the Governor shall appoint three members for a term of four years, and shall appoint the President and the immediate past President of the Medical Association of Georgia pursuant to their position and office in those respective capacities. Vacancies shall be filled by appointment by the Governor for the unexpired term.

The members of the Board shall receive such compensation and allowances as provided by law for attending meetings of the board or in traveling elsewhere in the discharge of their duties requiring their absence from their respective places of abode, same to be paid upon the approval of the Chairman or Vice-Chairman of the Board, out of any funds made available to said Board.

The secretary of the Board shall be whosoever is serving as the secretary of the Board of Regents, who shall keep the records and minutes of the proceedings of the Board and who shall also keep the books, records and accounts of the Board, and whose compensation as secretary of this Board shall be fixed by the Board. The secretary shall prepare and countersign all checks, vouchers and warrants drawn upon the funds of the Board, and the same shall be signed by the Chairman of the Board. The secretary shall also be the treasurer of the Board and shall keep an account for all the funds of the Board, and shall execute and file with the Board a surety bond in the sum of $10,000.00, payable to the State of Georgia, and conditioned upon the faithful performance of his duties and that he shall properly account for all funds coming into his hands as such secretary, the premium on such bond to be paid out of the funds of the Board.

The board may employ clerical assistance as is required and needed.

The board shall elect a chairman and also a vice-chairman to serve in the absence or inability of the chairman. The board shall maintain an office at the Medical College of Georgia, and shall meet at the said office or elsewhere at least once each quarter at such time as may be fixed by the board. Special meetings shall be held upon call of the chairman. Three members of the board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, and the board shall keep full, complete and permanent minutes and records of all its proceedings and actions.

It shall be the duty of the board to receive and pass upon, allow or disallow all applications for loans or scholarships made by students who are bona fide citizens and residents of the State of Georgia and who desire to become doctors of medicine and who are acceptable for enrollment in a qualified four-year medical school. The purpose of such loans shall be to enable such applicants to obtain a standard four-year medical education which will qualify them to become licensed, practicing physicians within the State of Georgia. It shall be the duty of the board to make a careful and full investigation of the ability, character and qualifications of each applicant and determine his fitness to become the recipient of such loan or scholarship, and for that purpose the board may propound such examination to each applicant which it deems proper, and the said board may prescribe such rules and regulations as it deems necessary and proper to carry out the purpose and intention of this Paragraph. The investigation of the applicant shall include an investigation of the ability of the applicant, or of the parents of such applicant, to pay his own tuition at such a medical school and the board in granting such loans and scholarships shall give preference to qualified applicants who, or whose parents, are unable to pay the applicant's tuition at such a medical school.

The said board shall have authority to grant to each applicant deemed by the board to be qualified to receive the same, a loan or scholarship for the purpose of acquiring a medical education as herein provided for, upon such terms and conditions to be imposed by the board as provided for in this Paragraph.

Applicants who are granted loans or scholarships by the Board shall receive a loan or scholarship not to exceed $10,000.00 to any one applicant to be paid at such time and in such manner as may be determined by the Board with which to defray the tuition and other expenses of any such applicant in any responsible, accepted and accredited four-year medical college or school in the United States. The loans and scholarship herein provided shall not exceed the sums herein stated, but they may be prorated in such manner as to pay to the medical college or school to which any applicant is admitted and such funds as are required by that college or school, and the balance to be paid direct to the applicant; all of which shall be under such terms and conditions as may be provided under rules and regulations of the Board. The said loans or scholarships to be granted to each applicant shall be based upon the condition that the full amount thereof shall be repaid to the State of Georgia in cash in full with 4% interest from the date of each payment by the State on such loan or scholarship, same to be payable annually, the first annual payment to be due on or before one year from the date the applicant completes his internship, or same may be repaid to the State of Georgia in services to be rendered by the applicant by practicing his profession at some place within the State of Georgia to be approved by the board. One-fifth of the loan or scholarship, together with interest thereon, shall be credited to the applicant for each year of practicing his profession in a community of 10,000 population or less, according to the United States Decennial Census of 1960 or any future such decennial census, or at Milledgeville State Hospital, Gracewood State School and Hospital, or at any facility operated by or under the jurisdiction of the State Department of Human Resources or at any prison or detention camp or work camp operated under the jurisdiction of the State Board of Corrections, and no anual [sic] interest on the scholarship loan shall be paid during such practice or service. Credit for practice at Milledgeville State Hospital, Gracewood State School and Hospital, or at any facility operated by or under the jurisdiction of the State Department of Human Resources or at any of the above facilities of the State Board of Corrections, shall be retroactive and shall apply to any applicants engaging in such practice at any time. In the event an applicant has repaid any part of such loan or scholarship for which he would otherwise have received credit for service, he shall be repaid whatever sum is necessary to take into consideration the credit he would have received. After the third full year of practice or services within this State as herein provided, but not before, the said applicant shall be privileged, entirely at the discretion of the Board, to pay off the balance of the scholarship or loan, together with accrued interest thereon, and upon such payment shall be relieved from further obligations under his contract for loan or scholarship.

Each applicant before being granted a loan or scholarship shall enter into a contract with the State of Georgia, agreeing to the terms and conditions upon which the loan or scholarship shall be granted to him, which said contract shall include such terms and provisions as will carry out the full purpose and intent of this Paragraph, and the form thereof shall be prepared and approved by the Attorney-General of this State, and shall be signed by the chairman of the board, countersigned by the secretary and shall be signed by the applicant. For the purposes of this Paragraph the disabilities of minority of all applicants granted loans or scholarships hereunder shall be and the same are hereby removed and the said applicants are declared to be of full lawful age for the purpose of entering into the contract hereinabove provided for, and such contract so executed by an applicant is hereby declared to be a valid and binding contract the same as though the said applicant were of the full age of 18 years and upward. The board is hereby vested with full and complete authority and power to sue in its own name any applicant for any balance due the board on any such contract.

It shall be the duty of the board to contract and make inquiry of such of the four-year medical colleges and schools as herein provided as it deems proper, and make such arrangements and enter into such contracts, within the limitations as to cost as herein provided, for the admission of students granted loans or scholarships by the board, such contracts to be approved by the Attorney-General of this State, and the money obligations of such contract as made by the board with any such colleges shall be paid for out of funds to be provided by law for such purposes, and all students granted loans or scholarships shall attend a medical school with which the board has entered into a contract, or any accredited four-year medical school or college in which said applicant may obtain admission, and which is approved by the board.

The board shall have authority to cancel any contract made between it and any applicant for loans or scholarships upon cause deemed sufficient by the board. And the board shall have authority to cancel such contracts which it may lawfully cancel made with any of the colleges or schools as herein provided.

All payments of funds for loans or scholarships hereunder shall be made by requisition of the board signed by the chairman and the secretary directed to the auditor of public accounts, who shall thereupon issue a warrant on the treasury of the State of Georgia for the amount fixed in the requisition and payable to the person designated thereon, which said warrant upon presentation shall be paid by the Director, Fiscal Division, Department of Administrative Services, or such other officer as may be designated by law, out of any funds appropriated by the legislature for the purposes provided for under this Paragraph.

All funds made available to the board by Act of the legislature for the purpose of defraying expenses of the board and the salaries of its secretary and employees shall be paid over and received by the treasurer of this board and by him deposited in some solvent bank within the State of Georgia, selected by the board, and such funds may be drawn and expended by check or warrant signed by the chairman and attested by the secretary.

The board shall make a biennial report to the legislature of its activities, loans or scholarships granted, names of persons to whom granted and the institutions attended by those receiving the same, the location of the applicants who have received their education and become licensed physicians and surgeons within this State as a result of the said loans and/or scholarships, and where they are practicing, and shall make a full report of all its expenditures for salaries and expenses incurred hereunder.

It is the purpose and intent of this Paragraph to bring about an adequate supply of doctors of medicine in the more sparsely populated areas of the State of Georgia by increasing the number of medical students from Georgia in the various medical schools, and inducing a sufficient number of the graduates from medical schools to return to Georgia and practice their profession, thus affording adequate medical care to the people of Georgia.

Paragraph IV. State Dental Education Board. There shall be a State Dental Education Board of Georgia, which is authorized to grant loans or scholarships to students who are citizens and residents of the State of Georgia, and who desire to become dentists. The appointment of members of said State Dental Education Board of Georgia, their qualifications, terms of office, powers, duties, functions and authority; and the provision of funds to carry out the purposes provided for herein shall be as enacted and appropriated by the General Assembly of the State of Georgia.

Paragraph V. State Scholarship Commission. The General Assembly is hereby authorized to provide by law a State Scholarship Commission to be authorized and empowered to activate, inaugurate and conduct a program to provide for the granting of scholarships to students desiring to study courses in the para-medical, professional or educational fields. The General Assembly is hereby authorized to provide for the duties, powers, authority, jurisdiction and composition of any such commission and is authorized to provide for all other matters relative to the purposes provided for herein.

Paragraph VI. Mental Health Scholarships. The Commissioner of Human Resources, with the approval of the Board of Human Resources, is hereby authorized to extend scholarships to physicians and other personnel to take post graduate courses in the various schools and clinics in the United States so as to enable them to be better qualified in the diagnosis, care and treatment of mental illness. As a prerequisite to the grant of such scholarship, the recipient thereof must agree to actively engage in the practice of his profession in a hospital operated by the State of Georgia, under the supervision of the State of Georgia, or at some place approved by the authority granting the scholarship, on the basis of one year of service for each year of training received. The remedies for the enforcing of service required shall be the same as provided for medical grants and scholarships and such other remedies as may be provided by law.

Paragraph VII. Board of Regents Scholarships. The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia shall have the authority to grant to qualified students, who are citizens and bona fide residents of the State of Georgia and who would not otherwise have available the funds necessary to obtain an education, such scholarships as are necessary for them to complete programs of study offered by institutions of the University System of Georgia, with the exception of the program leading to the degree of Doctor of Medicine. The terms and conditions thereof shall be prescribed and regulated by the Board of Regents but shall include the condition that recipients of such scholarships shall, upon the completion of their programs of study, reside in the State of Georgia and engage in activities for which they were prepared through the scholarships for a period of one year for each $1,000 received. The General Assembly shall appropriate such funds to the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia as it sees fit in order to carry out the purposes of this provision.

It shall be the duty of the Board of Regents to receive and pass upon, allow or disallow, all applications for scholarships; to contract, increase, decrease, terminate and otherwise regulate all grants for scholarships; and to manage, operate, and control all funds appropriated for this purpose.

Paragraph VIII. Scholarships for Prospective Teachers. The State Board of Education shall have the authority to grant to citizens who are interested in becoming teachers and who are bona fide residents of the State of Georgia such scholarships as are necessary for them to complete programs of study in preparation for teaching. The terms and conditions thereof shall be prescribed and regulated by the State Board of Education but shall include the condition that recipients of such scholarships shall, upon the completion of their programs of study, teach in the public schools of Georgia for a period of one year for each $1,000 received, and include the further provision that any person using any such scholarship shall teach in the public schools of Georgia for at least three years in any event.

The General Assembly shall have the authority to appropriate such funds to the State Board of Education as it deems wise and proper to carry out the purposes of this provision.

It shall be the duty of the State Board of Education to receive and pass upon, allow or disallow all applications for scholarships for teachers, to contract, increase, decrease, terminate and otherwise regulate all grants for scholarships; and to manage, operate and control all funds appropriated for this purpose.

Paragraph IX. State Participation in Federal Education Programs. The General Assembly is hereby authorized to appropriate funds to any State department or other State agency for the purpose of being used to obtain funds from the Federal Government for educational scholarships, educational loans and other educational purposes and all such State departments and other State agencies shall be authorized to use the funds so appropriated and the funds received from the Federal Government for the purposes authorized and directed by the Federal Government in making such funds available.

Paragraph X. Scholarships Financed from State Agency Funds. State departments and agencies of the State government of Georgia shall have the authority to disburse State funds to match federal funds in order to provide qualified employees with educational scholarships and for use in other federal education programs but shall include the condition that personnel to whom the scholarships are extended must, as a prerequisite thereto agree to work for the department or agency granting the scholarships for at least one year for each year spent in study or refund the money received for such scholarships pro rata. The terms and conditions thereof shall be prescribed and regulated by the various departments and agencies granting the scholarships. Provided further that no additional appropriation shall be made by the General Assembly to finance such scholarships, but the same shall be financed from the regular appropriations to the various State departments and State agencies. It shall be the duty of the various State departments and State agencies to receive and pass upon, allow or disallow all applications for scholarships in accordance with rules and regulations prescribed by them; to contract, increase, decrease, terminate and otherwise regulate all grants for scholarships; and to manage, operate and to control all funds used for this purpose.

Paragraph XI. Scholarships to Children of Law Enforcement Officers, Firemen, Etc. The General Assembly is hereby authorized to provide by law for a program to grant scholarships or other assistance to the children of law enforcement officers, firemen and prison guards, who are permanently disabled or killed in the line of duty, to enable such children to acquire an education beyond the 12th grade, or to enable such children to attend a vocational-technical school. The General Assembly shall be further authorized to provide by law for the terms and conditions for granting such scholarships or other assistance and shall provide that the program established in pursuance of this Paragraph shall be administered by the State Scholarship Commission or the Higher Education Assistance Corporation, as the General Assembly shall determine. The General Assembly is hereby further authorized to appropriate any funds it deems necessary for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Paragraph.

The General Assembly is hereby authorized and empowered to appropriate any amount of funds it deems necessary for the purposes of implementing any Act which becomes law as authorized by this Paragraph.

Paragraph XII. Vocational Rehabilitation Grants. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Constitution, whenever the State Board of Vocational Education may be entitled to receive Federal funds made available under the Vocational Rehabilitation Act, 29 United States Code, Chapter 4, or any amendment thereto, said Board shall be authorized to receive and administer such funds in accordance with the terms of the grant, and where the grant so provides, may disburse said funds to non-profit corporations or associations which are engaged solely in the vocational rehabilitation of disabled persons provided, however, that nothing in this Paragraph shall be construed to authorize the expenditure of any State funds until the same shall have been appropriated by the General Assembly.

Paragraph XIII. Tuition Grants to Children of Certain Prisoners of War. The General Assembly is hereby authorized to provide by law for tuition grants to qualified students, who are children of certain United States servicemen as hereinafter provided, to enable them to complete programs of study offered in the educational institutions of this State. The tuition grants shall apply to children of servicemen who were bona fide residents of this State at the time of their entry into the Armed Forces and who are certified by the United States Department of Defense or the United States Veterans Administration as missing in action for more than 90 days or captured in line of duty by a hostile force or forcibly detained or interned in line of duty by a foreign power since 26 March 1964; provided, however, that this shall not include any serviceman who is not in fact missing in action, but is missing because of unlawful actions on his part. The provisions of this Paragraph shall not apply to children born to any serviceman after his missing in action status is clarified or after his release from prison. The provisions of this Paragraph shall not apply to children of any servicemen who were discharged under other than honorable conditions. The provisions of this Paragraph shall not apply to the children of any servicemen who are eligible for federal benefits under the provisions of Chapter 31, Title 38, U. S. Code Annotated (Veterans Vocational Rehabilitation); Chapter 34, Title 38, U. S. Code Annotated (Veterans Education Assistance); or Chapter 35, Title 38, U. S. Code Annotated (Veterans War Orphans Educational Assistance Act). The recipients of such tuition grants must attend institutions within the University System of Georgia of [sic] vocational training institutions administered by the State Board of Education. The educational assistance to children of servicemen under the provisions of this Paragraph shall cover a period not in excess of 36 months (or the equivalent thereof in part-time training). The educational assistance to children of servicemen under the provisions of this Paragraph shall begin on the eighteenth birthday of such children or the successful completion of secondary schooling, whichever occurs first, and end on their twenty-sixth birthday. The term "child" or "children" shall include individuals who are married. The Georgia State Scholarship Commission and the State Board of Education are hereby charged with the administration of this Paragraph and may promulgate necessary rules, regulations and procedures to carry out the purposes of this Paragraph. The General Assembly shall appropriate the necessary funds for said tuition grants.

Paragraph XIV. Direct Loans for Students. (a) The General Assembly is hereby authorized to provide by law for a program of guaranteed student loans and for the payment of interest on such loans, which loans shall be used for the purpose of acquiring an education beyond the twelfth (12th) grade. The General Assembly is authorized to create an authority, a corporation or other entity for the purpose of administering any such law. Such law shall provide the agencies which may participate in any such loan program which may include commercial banks, savings banks, savings and loan associations, life insurance companies, credit unions, and retirement and pension systems. Such law shall provide a maximum rate of interest which may be charged for such loans and shall provide a portion of such interest which will be paid by the State. State funds may be expended for such purposes and the General Assembly is hereby authorized to appropriate money therefor. The General Assembly is also authorized to provide that contributions for the purposes provided herein shall be deductible for State income tax purposes. The General Assembly is also authorized to provide for such tax exemptions as shall be deemed advisable in connection with such program. The General Assembly is hereby authorized to provide for all other matters relative to the purposes provided for herein.

(b) The General Assembly is hereby authorized to provide by law for the issuance of revenue bonds for the purpose of making direct loans to students in order to allow such students to acquire an education beyond the 12th grade. The amount of such revenue bonds that may be outstanding at any one time, the interest rates, terms and conditions associated with the issuance of such bonds and all other matters relating to the issuance of such bonds shall be as the General Assembly shall provide by law. Such bonds shall be retired by the proceeds derived from the repayment of such student loans plus the interest, which may be such rate or rates as the General Assembly shall determine, on such loans in such manner and under such terms and conditions as the General Assembly shall determine. To the extent necessary to secure the issuance and sale of such bonds, such bonds may be retired from State funds in such manner as the General Assembly shall determine, any other provisions of this Constitution to the contrary notwithstanding.

Paragraph XV. Grants and Scholarships to College Students. The General Assembly is authorized to provide by law for grants or scholarships to citizens of Georgia who are students attending colleges or universities in this State which are not branches of the University System of Georgia. The General Assembly shall provide the procdures [sic] under which such grants or scholarships shall be made and is authorized to provide appropriations for such purposes.

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