For Immediate Release: Wednesday, July 19, 2017
Montgomery Council Committee to
Discuss Creating Student Loan Refinancing Authority
Also on Thursday, July 20: Public campaign financing, accessible taxicabs, and safe routes to school
ROCKVILLE, Md., July 19, 2017—The Montgomery County Council’s Government Operations and Fiscal Policy (GO) Committee and the Education (ED) Committee will meet jointly at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, July 20 to review Office of Legislative Oversight (OLO) Report 2017-8, Student Loan Refinancing Authority. Also at 9:30 a.m. the Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment (T&E) Committee will discuss increasing the number of wheelchair accessible taxicabs by issuing taxicab licenses to approved applicants. The GO Committee at 10:30 a.m. will discuss changes to the public campaign financing system. At 2 p.m. the ED and T&E Committees will review the County’s Safe Routes to School Program.
The GO Committee, which is chaired by Councilmember Navarro and includes Council Vice President Riemer and Councilmember Katz, and the ED Committee, which is chaired by Councilmember Rice and includes Councilmembers Elrich and Navarro, will meet jointly at 9:30 a.m. in the Seventh Floor Council Hearing Room of the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville. The Committees will discuss OLO Report 2017-8, which examines the feasibility of establishing a Student Loan Refinancing Authority (SLRA) in Montgomery County.
Currently there are no SLRAs in Maryland. In 2016 the Maryland General Assembly enacted enabling legislation that gives the County the authority to establish a SLRA. According to OLO staff, student loan debt in the United States reached $1.28 trillion in 2017, with the average monthly payment totaling $351. Refinancing a student loan can help borrowers by lowering interest rates or reducing the length of the loan period.
Before the County can establish a SLRA, it must conduct a study that evaluates the feasibility and demand and examines similar refinancing authorities. OLO’s research shows that it would be feasible to establish a student loan refinancing authority in the County. However, fully analyzing market demand would require the determination of major program characteristics and a professional market study. The report can be viewed at:
The T&E Committee, which is chaired by Council President Berliner and includes Councilmembers Floreen and Hucker, will meet at 9:30 a.m. in the Third Floor Council Conference Room. The Committee will review Expedited Bill 20-17, Taxicabs – Licenses, which would provide an extension of time to place a taxi in service for applicants who hold approved applications but were never issued licenses. One of the goals of this bill is to provide more wheelchair accessible taxicabs for residents. Council President Berliner is the lead sponsor of Bill 20-17. The staff report can be viewed at:
http://montgomerycountymd.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=169&event_id=5976&meta_id=141451 .
The GO Committee also will meet at 10:30 a.m. in the Seventh Floor Council Hearing Room. In June the Committee received an update on the status of the public campaign finance system. The Committee discussed several issues that have arisen during the implementation of the system. The Committee decided to introduce Expedited Bill 25-17, Elections – Public Campaign Financing – Amendments, to resolve these outstanding issues for the 2018 election cycle. Councilmembers Navarro, Katz, Riemer, and Elrich are the lead sponsors. Expedited Bill 25-17 would:
The staff report can be viewed at:
http://montgomerycountymd.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=151&event_id=5975&meta_id=141447 .
The ED and T&E Committees will meet jointly at 2 p.m. in the Seventh Floor Council Hearing Room to get an update on the progress of the County’s Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Program, which is a national model for making walking and bicycling to school safer and more accessible for children. The County initiated the SRTS program in 2004. In December 2016 OLO released a report that found traffic engineering improvements in areas around schools may have reduced pedestrian and bicycle collisions near schools; however, this may not persist over the long term. The staff report can be viewed at:
http://montgomerycountymd.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=128&event_id=5977&meta_id=141459
Committee meetings will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM). The channel can be viewed on Cable Channels 996 (high definition) and 6 (standard definition) on Comcast; Channels 1056 (HD) and 6 (SD) on RCN; and Channel 30 on Verizon. The session also will be available live via streaming through the Council web site at http://tinyurl.com/z9982v8 .
# # # # Release ID: 17-233