81R15752 T
By: Kolkhorst H.B. No. 4471
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the professional nursing shortage reduction program.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 61.9621, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 61.9621. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter,
"professional nursing program" means an educational program of an
institution of higher education including a private or independent
institution of higher education for preparing students for initial
licensure as registered nurses.
SECTION 2. Section 61.9623, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (a) to read as follows:
(a) A grant from the professional nursing shortage
reduction program to a professional nursing program or other entity
involved with a professional nursing program in the preparation of
students for initial licensure as registered nurses must be:
(1) expended exclusively on costs related to:
(A) enrolling additional students;
(B) nursing faculty enhancement in accordance
with Section 61.96231;
(C) encouraging innovation in the recruitment
and retention of students, including the recruitment and retention
of Spanish-speaking and bilingual students; or
(D) identifying, developing, or implementing
innovative methods to make the most effective use of limited
professional nursing program faculty, instructional or clinical
space, and other resources, including:
(i) sharing administrative or
instructional personnel, facilities, and responsibilities between
two or more professional nursing programs located in the same
region of this state; and
(ii) using preceptors or part-time faculty
to provide clinical instruction in order to address the need for
qualified faculty to accommodate increased student enrollment in
the professional nursing program;
(2) contingent on the professional nursing program's
having been approved as a professional nursing program by the board
or the Texas Board of Nursing, as appropriate[, by September 1,
2001];
(3) contingent on the professional nursing program's
not being on probation with the Texas Board of Nursing or other
accrediting body; and
(4) if granted to increase enrollments, contingent on
the professional nursing program's ability to enroll additional
students, including having the necessary classroom space and
clinical slots.
SECTION 3. Subchapter Z, Chapter 61, Education Code, is
amended by adding Sections 61.96232, 61.96233, and 61.9629 to read
as follows:
Sec. 61.96232. MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING TO INCREASE
GRADUATES. (a) Contingent upon the appropriation of funds and in
accordance with the process established under Subsection (b), the
Commissioner of Higher Education shall enter into a memorandum of
understanding with the governing institution, or its board, of a
professional nursing program with respect to the distribution of
funds to the nursing program based on the program's graduating
additional students prepared for initial licensure as register
nurses.
(b) The board, by rule, shall establish a process by which
the commissioner may enter into a memorandum of understanding with
an institution, or its board, under this section. The process may
authorize the commissioner to enter into a single memorandum of
understanding with multiple institutions desiring to cooperate on a
regional or joint basis to graduate additional students prepared
for initial licensure as register nurses.
(c) The memorandum of understanding between the
commissioner and an institution, or its board, shall set out the
terms relating to any funds distributed to the professional nursing
program. The memorandum of understanding shall state the number of
additional students prepared for initial licensure as registered
nurses the professional nursing program will graduate and identify
benchmarks for determining progress toward graduating those
additional students.
(d) An institution shall expend any funds received under
this section on its professional nursing program including
expending the funds for any the purposes set out in Sec. 61.9623.
(e) If a professional nursing program fails to graduate the
additional students as agreed or does not meet a benchmark used to
determine progress toward graduating the additional students as
agreed, the commissioner may:
(1) require the institution to return any unspent
funds received by the institution under this section;
(2) withhold any future payments required by the
memorandum of understanding;
(3) re-negotiate the memorandum of understanding; or
(4) cancel the memorandum of understanding.
(f) The board may appoint an advisory committee to advise
the commissioner and the board on implementation of this section.
The board may assign the committee the responsibility of evaluating
and making recommendations to the commissioner as to the
institutions with which to enter into memoranda of understanding
under this section.
Sec. 61.96233. NEW PROFESSIONAL NURSING PROGRAMS. The
board, by rule, shall establish a process for permitting newly
established professional nursing programs to participate in and
receive funds under programs established under this subchapter in
an equitable manner, including establishing a base for calculating
increases in enrollment or graduates if a program distributes funds
on such basis.
Sec. 61.9629. CONTINUED ELIGIBILITY OF PROGRAMS TO RECEIVE
FUNDS. A professional nursing program operated by an entity other
than an institution of higher education, including a public or
independent institution of higher education, that was eligible to
receive funds prior to September 1, 2009 from any program
established under this subchapter will continue to be eligible to
receive funds from any program established under this subchapter if
it meets all criteria for participation other than being a program
of an institution of higher education, including a public or
independent institution of higher education.
SECTION 4. 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.