HS/SB 805 - This act creates the Recruitment and Retention Scholarship Fund and establishes a "Minority and Underrepresented Environmental Literacy Program" within the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Division of Environmental Quality. Underrepresented groups shall be determined by the National Academy of Sciences, and those groups which are most underrepresented shall have priority in selection of scholarship recipients.

The act allows DNR to award scholarships to minority and underrepresented students to pursue environmentally related courses of study, and funds may be appropriated by the General Assembly for these scholarships from general revenue, special fees, federal funds or donations to fund the scholarships. The act authorizes scholarships to graduate and undergraduate students in environmentally related studies in engineering, environmental sciences, geology, biology, wildlife management, natural resources, chemistry and law enforcement. The DNR shall promulgate rules to administer the scholarship program.

The Minority Environmental Literacy Advisory Committee is created to supervise the scholarship program.
OTTO FAJEN