reBy Deborah Yetter
The Courier-Journal

The state will repay student loans for college graduates who go to work in the energy field -- including engineers, chemists and geologists -- under a little-known provision of an energy bill lawmakers passed last month.

That provision -- a few paragraphs of the 105-page bill meant to lure alternative energy plants to the state -- has upset some public defenders, legal aid lawyers and prosecutors who have been pushing lawmakers to approve a loan repayment program for public service lawyers.

"I was frankly stunned," said Ted Shouse, a state public defender with about $100,000 in student loans. "For three years we've been trying to make some headway."

"I am outraged," said Harry Rothgerber, first assistant commonwealth attorney in Louisville, who said his office struggles to hire and keep young lawyers who start at low government salaries and have heavy college loan debt.

Rep. Harry Moberly, D-Richmond, said the measure was included to try to encourage more Kentuckians to become scientists and engineers.

Sen. Robert Stivers, a London Republican who supported the measure, said higher education loan and other officials have repeatedly warned lawmakers the state isn't educating and keeping enough graduates in science and technology.

"We are not lacking for attorneys," said Stivers, himself a lawyer. "We are lacking for chemists, mathematicians and physicists."

Individuals must attend a Kentucky college and work in the state five years in the energy field to get loans fully repaid.

"This is sort of an experiment to see if this works," kelly said.

That doesn't mollify advocates of similar help for public service lawyers who have been asking legislators to approve a repayment plan.

"It makes no sense," Roony said, noting the bill offers generous tax breaks to private corporations to open alternative energy plants in Kentucky. "The rich get richer while my poor lawyers get poorer."

Prosecutors, public defenders and legal aid lawyers in Kentucky start at about $34,000 to $38,000 a year.

Engineers with four or five years of college can earn an average salary of about $62,000 a year, according to the state Department of Public Advocacy.

The national average starting salary for chemists is about $41,000; for civil engineers, about $48,000; and for chemical engineers, about $59,000, said Paul Coomes, a University of Louisville professor of economics. Rep. Rob Wilkey, a Scottsville Democrat who sponsored previous bills for a loan repayment plan for public service lawyers, said he will try again in 2008. He said the lawyers generally represent the poorest Kentuckians and the measure is urgently needed. "In the criminal justice system we have got to attract and retain good, bright, hard-working people."

Moberly said he also supports loan repayment for the lawyers.

"I think it's something we're going to look at again," he said.

Wilkey voted for the energy bill but said he noted the irony of not offering loan forgiveness to public service lawyers.

They often have tens of thousands of dollars in debt after four years of college and three years of law school, advocates said.

Ernie Lewis, head of the state's public advocacy system, said the turnover among his 300 public defenders is enormous -- an average of four per month. And the top reason for leaving is low salary and high student debt, he said.

Those who stay on the job often can't make ends meet, he said.

One public defender in Glasgow with a wife and three children took a second job delivering pizza after working in court all day, Lewis said.

"He told me he makes enough through delivering pizzas to pay his student loans," Lewis said.

Legal aid lawyers are coming to the agency with increasing amounts of college debt, said Jamie Odle, executive director of Access to Justice Foundation, which represents them.

Odle said some legal aid lawyers are paying $500 or more per month on student loans. "Loan forgiveness is a huge issue," said Odle, adding that she plans to lobby for the program in the next legislative session. "We do kind of feel that it's past time."

Lewis said advocates last year backed Wilkey's bill, which called for a $1.2 million a year program paid for through a portion of court fees. Public service lawyers would be eligible for up to $6,000 a year in loan repayment for every year they work in Kentucky.

Several states, including South Carolina, have adopted similar programs, Lewis said, adding that it's time Kentucky does the same.

"We have a public policy goal, I believe, of ensuring a fair criminal justice system," he said.

Wilkey said that many lawmakers support the measure but it has bogged down amid other issues for the past three years.

Shouse, who became a public defender in 1999 after graduating from law school, said he hopes the state will adopt a loan forgiveness plan that will help him continue his dream of public service. He makes about $51,000 a year but said he still can barely keep up with his student loan payments.

"I live this issue every day of my life," said Shouse, who handles death penalty cases.

Shouse, who earlier this year won a new trial for death row inmate Charles Bussell, said he plans to remain a public defender "as long as I can keep doing it. There are days when it certainly hurts."