H.B. No. 4471
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. DEFINITION [DEFINITIONS]. In this
subchapter, "professional nursing program" means an educational
program offered by a public or private institution of higher
education for preparing students for initial licensure as
registered nurses.
SECTION 2. Section 61.9623(a), Education Code, is amended
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 curriculum and 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. GRANTS TO INCREASE NUMBER OF GRADUATES:
APPLICATION PROCESS. (a) The board by rule shall establish a
process under which a public or private institution of higher
education that offers a professional nursing program may apply for
a grant under this subchapter and the commissioner of higher
education, contingent on appropriations of money for the grants,
selects one or more applicants to receive a grant based on criteria
established by board rule. The criteria must include the
institution's agreement that the institution's professional
nursing program will enroll additional students or graduate
additional students prepared for initial licensure as registered
nurses.
(b) The process established under Subsection (a) may
authorize the commissioner of higher education to accept a joint
application from multiple institutions that agree to cooperate on a
regional or joint basis for their professional nursing programs to
enroll additional students or graduate additional students
prepared for initial licensure as registered nurses.
(c) The application for a grant under this section must
require the institution applying for a grant to:
(1) state the number of additional students that the
institution's professional nursing program intends to enroll or
graduate;
(2) identify benchmarks for determining adequate
progress toward enrolling or graduating those additional students;
(3) state the amount of grant money requested; and
(4) describe a proposed payment schedule for
distribution of the grant money to the institution seeking the
grant.
(d) The commissioner of higher education may negotiate
changes to the application before approving the application.
(e) If a professional nursing program fails to enroll or
graduate the number of additional students stated in the approved
application or does not meet a benchmark identified in the approved
application, the commissioner of higher education may:
(1) require the institution offering the professional
nursing program to return any unearned grant money awarded to the
program under this subchapter;
(2) withhold future grant awards that would otherwise
be made under this subchapter in accordance with the approved
application;
(3) renegotiate the terms of the approved application;
or
(4) rescind approval of the application.
(f) The board may appoint an advisory committee to advise
the commissioner of higher education and the board on
implementation of this section. The board may assign to the
committee the responsibility for evaluating applications and
recommending to the commissioner applications for approval.
Sec. 61.96233. NEW PROFESSIONAL NURSING PROGRAMS. (a) The
board shall adopt rules for permitting newly established
professional nursing programs to participate in and receive grant
awards under the program established under this subchapter.
(b) The rules the board adopts under Subsection (a) must
include:
(1) a process for ensuring that newly established
professional nursing programs are treated equitably with
established programs in the award of grants under this subchapter;
and
(2) a method for calculating increases in enrollment
or graduates if grants are awarded based on such increases.
Sec. 61.9629. CONTINUED ELIGIBILITY OF PROGRAMS TO RECEIVE
GRANTS. Notwithstanding Section 61.9621, a professional nursing
program offered by an entity other than a public or private or
independent institution of higher education that was eligible to
receive grants from a program under this subchapter before
September 1, 2009, remains eligible to receive a grant from such a
program if the entity meets all criteria for a grant other than the
criterion of being a program offered by an institution of higher
education.
SECTION 4. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
may adopt initial rules for the administration of Sections 61.96232
and 61.96233, Education Code, as added by this Act, at the
coordinating board's first meeting after the effective date of this
Act. For that purpose, the coordinating board may adopt the rules
in the manner provided by law for emergency rules.
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.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 4471 was passed by the House on April
23, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 145, Nays 0, 1 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 4471 on May 29, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 145, Nays 0,
1 present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 4471 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 27, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays
0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor