Sec. 1. 20-A MRSA §12571, sub-§2-A is enacted to read:

2-A.__Permanency guardian.__"Permanency guardian" means the person described in Title 22, section 4038-C.

Sec. 2. 20-A MRSA §12572, first ¶, as enacted by PL 1999, c. 216, §1 and amended by PL 2003, c. 689, Pt. B, §6, is further amended to read:

Any person who was in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services and resided in foster care or subsidized adoptive care or was a minor ward of a subsidized permanency guardian as provided in Title 22, section 4038-D at the time that person graduated from high school or successfully completed a general educational development examination or its equivalent under section 257 may attend, as provided in this section, any state postsecondary educational institution free of tuition charges.

Sec. 3. 22 MRSA §4038-C, first ¶, as enacted by PL 2005, c. 372, §6, is amended to read:

As part of the permanency plan, the District Court may appoint a person or persons as guardian of a minor, to be known as a permanency guardian. "Permanency guardian," when used in this section and in section 4038-D and Title 20-A, section 12572, means the person or persons appointed as the permanency guardian.

SUMMARY

This bill extends the availability of tuition waivers to include persons who had been in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services and were in subsidized adoptive care or under subsidized permanency guardianship under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 22, section 4038-D at the time those persons graduated from high school or successfully completed a GED.