Ill. Admin. Code tit. 23, § 2754.30 - Program Procedures
a) In order
to receive benefits under this Part, a qualified applicant must annually
complete a program application and, at the time of application, execute the
appropriate Service Agreement. A qualified applicant must also submit any forms
required by the United States Department of Justice for participation in the
John R. Justice Student Loan Repayment Program.
1) Program applications and Service
Agreements are available at ISAC's website and ISAC's Springfield, Deerfield
and Chicago offices.
2) If the
application or the Service Agreement is incomplete, the applicant will be
provided an opportunity to furnish any missing information. Applications will
be considered for processing only as of the date a complete application and
Service Agreement are received by ISAC in its Deerfield office. No applications
will be considered for processing if received after the published date unless
funds remain available for disbursement. ISAC reserves the right to request
documentation to verify data reported on the application.
3) The application will require the
applicant's employer (or future employer in the case of recruited attorneys) to
certify the following:
A) The employer is an
eligible employing entity under the John R. Justice Prosecutors and Defenders
Incentive Act (42 USC
3797cc-21);
B) The applicant seeking benefits meets the
definition of "prosecutor" or "public defender" under the Act; and
C) The employer employs or, in the case of a
recruited attorney, has extended an offer of employment that has been accepted
by the applicant.
b) Each year, ISAC shall select individuals
to receive repayment benefits from among individuals who have previously
executed a Service Agreement with the Department of Justice but have not yet
completed the required term of service described in the Service Agreement and
all new applicants who have submitted a completed application and Service
Agreement.
c) Individuals who have
previously executed a Service Agreement with the Department of Justice but have
not yet completed the required term of service shall be selected once all
information necessary to compute the amount of an award under this Part has
been received by ISAC.
d) Priority
consideration in selecting individuals to receive benefits from among new
applicants will be given to those applicants who have the least ability to
repay their loans. Individuals not receiving benefits under another program
that provides loan repayment assistance for eligible educational loans will be
considered before those who are receiving those benefits.
e) Any award of funds under this Part shall
be made in accordance with the following:
1)
Individuals selected to receive benefits shall be assigned to one of the five
districts of the Illinois Appellate Court on the basis of the zip code of the
individual's employer or, for those individuals who are employed in a statewide
capacity as a prosecutor, as a statewide prosecutor. Available benefits will be
allocated to each district or to statewide prosecutors based on the ratio of
the number of statewide prosecutors or prosecutors or public defenders within a
district to the total population of prosecutors and public defenders in the
state.
2) The amount of the benefit
awarded will be calculated based on each individual's ability to repay the
qualifying loan debt. ISAC shall determine an individual's ability to repay
qualifying loan debt using the individual's Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) from
the IRS Form 1040 during the previous calendar year, the number of dependents
reported, including the applicant and spouse (if applicable), by the individual
during the previous calendar year, the amount of qualifying student loan debt
owed by the individual, and the cost of living in the appellate district in
which the individual's employer is located, as determined by the Cost of Living
Index published annually by the Illinois Appellate Court.
3) Priority consideration in awarding
benefits will be given to individuals who have previously executed a Service
Agreement with the Department of Justice but have not yet completed the
required term of service, except that priority under this Section shall be
limited to individuals who have not previously completed a term of service
under a Service Agreement with the Department of Justice. Awards shall then be
made in accordance with this Section to new applicants.
4) Once all the money allocated for a
particular district or to individuals qualifying as statewide prosecutors has
been exhausted, the awarding for that district or to statewide prosecutors will
cease.
5) In the event that an
insufficient number of individuals from a particular district apply for the
program, the remaining dollars in that district's allocation would be awarded
to the highest-ranked applicants who have not received an award, regardless of
which district they are from.
6)
The total amount of funds allocated to prosecutors, regardless of the district
to which they are assigned or their status as a statewide prosecutor, must
equal the total amount of funds allocated to defenders, regardless of the
district to which they are assigned.
f) The amount of an award shall not exceed
$10,000 per year, up to a maximum of $60,000 during an individual's career. The
annual amount may be reduced in order to make more loan repayment assistance
awards when funding is insufficient to provide benefits to all selected
individuals.
g) The loan proceeds
shall be remitted to the holder of the loans to be repaid.
h) While receiving benefits, an individual
must notify ISAC of changes to their address, employment status or loan status
(default) within 10 days after a change.
i) While receiving benefits, the individual
must remain a licensed attorney in good standing with the Illinois
bar.
Notes
Amended at 37 Ill. Reg. 20776, effective January 1, 2014
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