SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 8

52nd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2015

INTRODUCED BY

Jacob R. Candelaria

A JOINT MEMORIAL

URGING MEMBERS OF THE NEW MEXICO CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION AND ALL OTHER MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO SUPPORT LEGISLATION TO OFFER STUDENTS THE OPPORTUNITY TO REFINANCE STUDENT LOAN DEBT AT LOWER RATES.

     WHEREAS, federal student loan debt has significantly impacted America's economy by placing some borrowers in financial peril and slowing economic recovery; and

     WHEREAS, only mortgages rank ahead of student loans in types of consumer debt; and

     WHEREAS, according to the federal reserve bank of New York, outstanding student loan debt has exceeded one trillion dollars ($1,000,000,000,000), surpassing total credit card debt; and

     WHEREAS, Student Debt and the Class of 2013, an initiative of the institute for college access and success, reports that about seven in ten, or sixty-nine percent, of college seniors who graduated from public or private nonprofit colleges in 2013 had student loan debt; and

     WHEREAS, these borrowers owed an average of twenty-eight thousand four hundred dollars ($28,400) in college loans; and

     WHEREAS, student loan debt is a drag on the economy, affecting the ability of young adults incurring student loan debt to purchase homes and vehicles, start small businesses or fund retirement accounts; and

     WHEREAS, congress passed the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act of 2013 to lower federal loan rates for new borrowers in the 2013-2014 school year; and

     WHEREAS, the act did not offer an option to refinance student load debt for existing borrowers; and

     WHEREAS, S.2432 has been introduced in the United States senate to address this disparity and to allow eligible student loan borrowers to refinance their high-interest federal loans; and

     WHEREAS, the proposed legislation would allow eligible student loan borrowers with high-interest private loans to refinance down to the rates offered to new federal borrowers in the 2013-2014 school year under the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act of 2013; and

     WHEREAS, the proposed legislation would impose a surtax on millionaires for the cost to refinance old loans; and

     WHEREAS, the reduction of student loan debt is an important factor in economic improvement;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that members of the New Mexico congressional delegation be urged to support legislation to offer students the opportunity to refinance student loan debt at lower rates; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the New Mexico congressional delegation and to the members of the United States congress.

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