RELATING TO THE NEW MEXICO YOUTH CONSERVATION CORPS; CHANGING PROVISION FOR CORPS MEMBER TO EARN ADDITIONAL COMPENSATION OR AN EDUCATIONAL TUITION VOUCHER AT A NEW MEXICO INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

Section 1. Section 9-5B-9 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1992, Chapter 91, Section 9) is amended to read:

"9-5B-9. EDUCATION--TRAINING.--

A. Corps members shall be encouraged to increase their opportunities for employment by education and training. Corps personnel shall seek cooperative agreements with community colleges, vocational schools and other institutions of higher learning in an effort to aid corps members in achieving their educational goals. Corps personnel shall provide opportunities for corps members to achieve basic education, literacy and high school or equivalency diplomas.

B. On completion of employment, a corps member who has twelve full months of employment as a corps member during a period not to exceed forty-eight months and who has received satisfactory evaluations throughout his employment is entitled to receive as additional compensation five hundred dollars ($500) or a one thousand dollar ($1,000) educational tuition voucher at a New Mexico institution of higher education. The educational tuition voucher is valid for two years. If the corps member receives a satisfactory employment evaluation and the program manager determines that the corps member's employment was less than twelve months in a four-year period due to circumstances beyond the corps member's control, the program manager may authorize a partial compensation payment or a partial educational tuition voucher to that corps member."

HB 938

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