Bill
S 2064
S 2064 contains two conflicting bills: New Jersey’s student‑teacher scholarship to cut clinical‑practice costs and Massachusetts’ living organ donor tax credit.
Note on sources: The package you provided contains multiple different bill texts and metadata under the same bill number (S 2064) from different jurisdictions and/or versions. Below I summarize each distinct legislative text included and then flag metadata inconsistencies to help you identify which version you need to track.
Purpose
- Establish a scholarship program to reduce financial barriers to teacher certification for students completing required clinical practice (student teaching) in New Jersey.
Key provisions
- Creates the New Jersey Student Teacher Scholarship Program within the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA), in coordination with the NJ Department of Education.
- Scholarship amount: up to $7,200 per semester of full‑time clinical practice completed in a NJ school. The executive director may increase the maximum for cost-of-living adjustments.
- Duration: eligible students may receive the scholarship for a maximum of two academic semesters.
- Eligibility: New Jersey residents enrolled full-time in an approved teacher-preparation program (undergraduate, post‑baccalaureate, or graduate) who have reached the clinical practice application stage. HESAA and the Department of Education may add additional eligibility criteria and may target high‑need subject areas (e.g., math, science, special education, world languages, bilingual education).
- Good standing: awards continue only while the student remains in good academic standing and meets program requirements.
- Termination: scholarship ends if the student is dismissed for academic/disciplinary reasons, is disqualified from employment due to criminal history, or otherwise becomes ineligible for the certificate of eligibility with advanced standing. If a student withdraws for illness or family emergency, the scholarship is terminated but the student is not required to repay amounts already received.
- Application timeline: HESAA must establish an application process within 90 days of the act’s effective date and make the application available no later than the first day of the fourth month after enactment; approvals begin shortly thereafter.
- Reporting/evaluation: HESAA and the Department of Education must annually collect program data (participant counts by program, participant surveys, and demographic data disaggregated by race/ethnicity/gender).
- Funding: Legislature must annually appropriate amounts from the General Fund as necessary.
- Effective date: immediate; first applied to the first full academic year following enactment.
Who is affected
- Prospective teachers completing clinical practice in NJ, public and private institutions of higher education that run educator preparation programs, HESAA, and K–12 school districts that host clinical practice students.
Potential impact
- Lowers out-of-pocket costs for student teachers, potentially increasing completion of certification programs and helping pipeline to high‑need teaching fields. Fiscal impact depends on number of recipients and annual appropriations.
Purpose
- Establish a state income tax credit for individuals who are living organ donors to offset donor-related costs.
Key provisions
- Inserts a new subsection in Mass. G.L. c.62, §6 authorizing a credit against personal income tax for qualified living organ donors.
- Credit covers: transplantation costs paid by the donor, travel/lodging/logistical expenses, medical and follow-up care expenses, paperwork/legal costs, and lost wages related to donation.
- Credit cap: total credit allowed shall not exceed $5,000 per taxable year.
- “Qualified life‑saving organ” defined to include kidney, liver, lung, pancreas, intestine, bone marrow, or any part thereof.
Who is affected
- Individuals in Massachusetts who donate a qualifying organ while alive; taxpayers filing under state income tax.
Potential impact
- Reduces the financial burden on living donors and may encourage donations; fiscal impact depends on uptake and state revenue foregone up to cap.
Recommendation
- Confirm the jurisdiction (state) and which of the above texts is the authoritative S 2064 you want tracked. If you provide the official bill source (state legislature website or PDF), I can produce a single, definitive summary and a legislative timeline of actions.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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