81R156 KSD-D
By: Aycock H.B. No. 333
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to tuition and fee exemptions for the spouses of certain
military personnel.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 54.203, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (b-2) to read as
follows:
(b) The exemptions provided for in Subsection (a) [of this
section] also apply [and inure] to [the benefit of]:
(1) the children and the current or surviving spouse
of a member [members] of the armed forces of the United States:
(A) who was [are or were] killed in action;
(B) who [die or] died while in service;
(C) who is [are] missing in action;
(D) whose death is documented to be directly
caused by illness or injury connected with service in the armed
forces of the United States; or
(E) who became totally disabled for purposes of
employability according to the disability ratings of the Department
of Veterans Affairs as a result of a service-related injury; and
(2) the [orphans or] children and the current or
surviving spouse of a member [members] of the Texas National Guard
and the Texas Air National Guard who:
(A) was [were] killed since January 1, 1946,
while on active duty either in the service of this [their] state or
the United States; or
(B) is [are] totally disabled for purposes of
employability according to the disability ratings of the Department
of Veterans Affairs, regardless of whether the member is [members
are] eligible to receive disability benefits from the department,
as a result of a service-related injury suffered since January 1,
1946, while on active duty either in the service of this state or
the United States.
(b-2) A spouse described by Subsection (b) is eligible for
an exemption provided for in Subsection (a) until the date the
spouse's marriage to the member is dissolved by divorce or
annulment.
SECTION 2. Section 54.203, Education Code, as amended by
this Act, applies beginning with tuition and other fees charged for
the first term or semester that begins after the effective date of
this Act, but not earlier than the 2009 fall semester. Tuition and
other fees charged for an academic period before that term or
semester are covered by the law in effect immediately before the
effective date of this Act, and the former law is continued in
effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2009.