81R14522 KSD-D
By: Branch H.B. No. 4222
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to limitations on increases in designated tuition charged
by general academic teaching institutions and a biennial report to
the legislature regarding the operational costs of those
institutions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 54.0513, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsections (g), (g-1), (g-2), (h), (i), (j), and (k) to read
as follows:
(g) Except as provided by Subsection (j), the amount of
tuition the governing board of a general academic teaching
institution charges under this section to a student for an academic
year may not exceed the total amount of tuition that the governing
board would have charged under this section to a similarly situated
student in the preceding academic year by more than the greater of:
(1) 3.95 percent; or
(2) $280.
(g-1) Notwithstanding Subsection (g), for the 2010-2011
academic year, the amount of tuition the governing board of a
general academic teaching institution charges under this section to
a student may not exceed the total amount of tuition that the
governing board would have charged under this section to a
similarly situated student in the 2008-2009 academic year by more
than the greater of:
(1) 3.95 percent; or
(2) $280.
(g-2) Subsection (j) applies to Subsection (g-1) in the same
manner as Subsection (j) applies to Subsection (g). This
subsection and Subsection (g-1) expire September 1, 2011.
(h) For purposes of Subsection (g), students are similarly
situated if they share the same residency status, degree program,
course load, course level, tuition exemption status, and other
circumstances affecting the tuition charged to a student.
(i) Subsection (g) does not ensure that the designated
tuition charged to an individual student will not increase by more
than the limitation prescribed by that subsection based on a change
in the student's residency status, degree program, course load,
course level, tuition exemption status, or other circumstance
affecting the amount of tuition charged to the student.
(j) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall
adopt rules authorizing a general academic teaching institution to
increase the amount of designated tuition charged to students by
more than the limitation prescribed by Subsection (g) in the event
of an emergency, as defined by the coordinating board for purposes
of this subsection.
(k) In this section, "general academic teaching
institution" has the meaning assigned by Section 61.003.
SECTION 2. Subchapter Z, Chapter 51, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 51.973 to read as follows:
Sec. 51.973. BIENNIAL REPORT BY LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
REGARDING UNIVERSITY CORE OPERATIONAL COSTS. Not later than
December 1 of each even-numbered year, the Legislative Budget Board
shall submit to the senate finance committee, the house
appropriations committee, and the standing committee of each house
with primary jurisdiction over higher education, for consideration
by the members of those committees in determining the amount of
general revenue appropriations to general academic teaching
institutions and tuition rates at those institutions, a report that
includes:
(1) each general academic teaching institution's
actual core operational costs for the current state fiscal biennium
according to the institution's most recent annual financial
reports; and
(2) the Legislative Budget Board's estimate of the
core operational costs for the next state fiscal biennium for each
general academic teaching institution, based on a methodology that:
(A) projects for each year of the next biennium:
(i) changes in student enrollment for each
institution; and
(ii) a rate of inflation; and
(B) uses data from each institution's annual
financial report regarding costs for instruction, academic
support, institutional support, operations and maintenance of
physical plants, and student services.
SECTION 3. Section 54.0513, Education Code, as amended by
this Act, applies beginning with tuition charged by a general
academic teaching institution for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Tuition charged by a general academic teaching institution in an
academic year before that academic year is covered by the law in
effect before the effective date of this Act, and the former law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 4. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
shall adopt the rules required by Section 54.0513(j), Education
Code, as added by this Act, as soon as practicable after this Act
takes effect.
SECTION 5. 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.