Editor's notes.

- In light of the similarity of the provisions, decisions under former Ga. Const. 1976, Art. X, Sec. II, Para. III and antecedent provisions, which provided for the creation and powers of the State Medical Education Board, are included in the annotations for this paragraph.

Decision of the State Medical Education Board to cancel a loan pursuant to this paragraph is not within regulatory scope of Ga. L. 1964, p. 338 (see now O.C.G.A. Ch. 13, T. 50). Williams v. State Medical Educ. Bd., 149 Ga. App. 444, 254 S.E.2d 450, rev'd on other grounds, 244 Ga. 401, 260 S.E.2d 304 (1979).

Allowing doctor to establish practice in area other than as specified defeats purpose of scholarship loan program.

- Purpose of the medical scholarship loan program is to enable deserving students to obtain state financial assistance to permit them to attend medical school and become doctors by agreeing to provide medical services in sparsely populated areas where such services are needed; to allow such a doctor to set up practice outside a city which city does not meet the requirements of the law and claim that the doctor is in a rural community defeats the purpose of the statute creating scholarship loans. State Medical Educ. Bd. v. Williams, 244 Ga. 401, 260 S.E.2d 304 (1979).

Summary judgment for board not justified.

- Where loan issued pursuant to this paragraph provided that one-fifth of the total scholarship together with the interest thereon would be credited to the applicant for each year of practice when the applicant had practiced the profession for three years in a community of 15,000 or less according to the United States 1960 (1970) census, the board had authority to cancel this contract at any time upon cause deemed sufficient by the board; and where the board exercised its power to cancel the loan and accelerate the indebtedness following the board's refusal to approve Smyrna, Georgia, as an area qualifying for the service/repayment provision of the loan contract due to the proximity of Smyrna to Atlanta, these facts and the evidence as developed on trial justified summary judgment for the board. Williams v. State Medical Educ. Bd., 244 Ga. 401, 260 S.E.2d 304, rev'g, 149 Ga. App. 444, 254 S.E.2d 450 (1979) (see Ga. Const. 1983, Art. XI, Sec. I, Para. I).

Editor's notes.

- In light of the similarity of the provisions, opinions under for Ga. Const. 1976, Art. X, Sec. II, Para. III and antecedent provisions, relating to the creation and powers of the State Medical Education Board, are included in the annotations for this paragraph.

State Medical Education Board may legally grant scholarships to qualified applicants in the field of osteopathy. 1970 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 70-121.

Permissible to charge communities participating in medical fair registration fee.

- The concept of a "Medical Fair," the purpose of which is to introduce scholarship recipients to community representatives who are actively seeking physicians for their communities, is consistent with the basic purposes of the financial assistance program; therefore, the State Medical Education Board may properly charge a registration fee to communities desiring to participate in this fair. 1979 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 79-28.

Raise of loan ceiling permitted by agreement between parties.

- If both the student recipient and the State Medical Education Board agree to do so, an existing medical scholarship agreement may be amended so as to increase the maximum grant available to $15,000. 1976 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 76-127.

Payment of scholarships to recipients.

- There is no indication as to time and manner in which scholarships granted under this paragraph are to be paid to the recipients except that the board has the authority to make such a determination; based on this language, the board can provide for payments for any sum and at any interval it deems proper so long as the total does not exceed $15,000. 1971 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 71-129 (see Ga. Const. 1983, Art. XI, Sec. I, Para. I).

Exemption applicable to students not physicians.

- The exemption which the Constitution gives to the board from its debt or gratuity proscriptions is by its express terms limited to students and, consequently, the State Medical Education Board would not be authorized to make cash grants to physicians in exchange for their agreement to practice in specified localities. 1978 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 78-31.

Constable may not continue to serve if the constable does not meet eligibility requirements under the Magistrate Act. 1983 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 83-59.

Uncertified justice of peace did not become magistrate.

- A justice of the peace in office on June 30, 1983, who was not certified under the former Georgia Justice Courts Training Council Act as of that date, did not become a magistrate of the successor court on July 1, 1983. 1983 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 83-53.

Required length of attendance is not determinative.

- Provisions of this paragraph that applicant must attend a four-year medical college does not set forth number of years over which the applicant is to receive scholarship payments; this is simply a limiting factor as to the qualifications of the school that the recipient attends; the instigation of a three-year accelerated program does not alter the four-year status of a medical college. 1971 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 71-129 (see Ga. Const. 1983, Art. XI, Sec. I, Para. I).

Defining community.

- The meaning of the term "community" of 15,000 population or less is determined first by its identification as a community by the census. In the absence of such census identification, the board has some discretion in defining the boundaries of a "community," giving due consideration to the location of political boundary lines, demographic patterns, and the like. Once a geographic area is defined by any of the foregoing means, and provided that its population is 15,000 or less, the board has the further discretion of determining, on a reasonable factual basis and in a nonarbitrary manner, which of those geographic areas of 15,000 population or less it will "approve." 1979 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 79-30.

Community size tied into census.

- The size of the communities within which a physician may repay a State Medical Education Board loan or scholarship by practicing the physician's profession is tied to the 1970 or any "subsequent" decennial census; a community cannot be treated as being eligible under the 15,000 cut-off based upon any census earlier than 1970. 1979 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 79-47.

Practice in community of less than specified size possible.

- If both student recipient and the State Medical Education Board agree to do so, an existing medical scholarship agreement may be amended so as to permit the recipient's repayment obligation to be satisfied by practicing in a community having a population of 15,000 or less rather than 10,000 or less. 1976 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 76-127.

Designation of eligible community by board not forever binding.

- Although it is not proper for the State Medical Education Board of Georgia to approve an eligible community for one doctor and disapprove the same community for another doctor on an arbitrary basis, this does not mean that an approval of an eligible community, having once been made, is binding forever. 1979 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 79-30.

Regarding credit claims against outstanding scholarship loans, this paragraph does not cover a situation where a doctor serves patients from communities of a specified population who must still journey to the doctor's office in another city or community of population greater than that specified. 1970 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 70-75 (see Ga. Const. 1983, Art. XI, Sec. I, Para. I).

Vested contractual obligations not altered.

- This paragraph which changes conditions, limits, and interest rates of medical scholarship loans awarded by the State Medical Education Board does not alter vested contractual obligations under scholarship agreements entered into prior to the effective date of the amendment. 1976 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 76-127 (see Ga. Const. 1983, Art. XI, Sec. I, Para. I).

Constitutional amendment increasing loan interest not applicable to previously disbursed and contractually disbursed loans.

- Unless both parties to an existing medical scholarship agreement agree to amend the agreement so as to increase the interest obligation of the recipient from four percent per annum, the obligations and rights which became vested under the existing agreement with respect to interest would continue notwithstanding the constitutional amendment; this would apply to both those scholarship funds which have already been disbursed and to those funds which while not yet disbursed are contractually obligated by the existing medical scholarship agreements. 1976 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 76-127.