R 327
2018 -- S 2982
Enacted 06/20/2018

S E N A T E   R E S O L U T I O N
RESPECTFULLY REQUESTING THAT THE OFFICE OF THE POSTSECONDARY COMMISSIONER FORM A WORK GROUP TO CONDUCT A THOROUGH REVIEW INTO HOW RHODE ISLAND CAN PROTECT STUDENT LOAN BORROWERS

Introduced By: Senator Hanna M. Gallo
Date Introduced: June 20, 2018

     WHEREAS, Student loan debt in the United States totals approximately $1.3 trillion; and
     WHEREAS, The Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program is a bank-based
federal loan program that is held by the United States Department of Education or guaranty
agencies; and
     WHEREAS, Nearly 7 million people with $162 billion in FFEL loans have loans held by
guaranty agencies and almost half of the outstanding defaulted student debt is from the FFEL
program; and
     WHEREAS, According to a report from the Consumer Federation of America, over one
million borrowers defaulted on their federal student loans in 2016, an increase of about fourteen
percent from 2015; and
     WHEREAS, The United States Department of Education has removed protections,
including, but not limited to, barring debt collectors from charging high fees up to sixteen percent
of the principal and accrued interest on past-due loans, penalties for debt collectors' improper
handling of loan payments and requirements of debt collectors to provide high-quality customer
service to borrowers; and
     WHEREAS, The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has closed its Office of Students
and Young Consumers, and may shut the open database for consumer complaints; and
     WHEREAS, Rhode Island should proactively find state solutions for student loan
borrowers because of these rollbacks of protections and oversight that such borrowers were
afforded by the federal government; now, therefore be it
     RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
hereby respectfully requests that the Office of the Postsecondary Commissioner form a work
group to conduct a thorough review into how Rhode Island can protect student loan borrowers
and to make recommendations on or before January 15, 2019, to the President of the Senate and
to the Speaker of the House of Representatives regarding student loan protections. Such
recommendations should consider the best agency to provide those protections, and the necessary
statutory and regulatory amendments. The work group should include the Treasurer's Office, the
Office of the Attorney General, the Division of Business Regulation, the Rhode Island Student
Loan Authority, private student loan providers, members of the Rhode Island General Assembly,
current and former students with student loan debt, and other key stakeholders; and be it further
     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to
transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to Peter F. Kilmartin, Attorney General; Seth
Magaziner, General Treasurer; Dr. Brenda Dann Messier, Commissioner of Postsecondary
Education; Timothy DelGiudice, Council on Postsecondary Education; Liz Tanner, Director of
the Department of Business Regulation and Charles E. Kelley, Executive Director of the Rhode
Island Student Loan Authority.
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LC005951
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