81R35693 KSD-F
By: Zaffirini, et al. S.B. No. 1443
Substitute the following for S.B. No. 1443:
By: Branch C.S.S.B. No. 1443
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the academic costs charged to resident undergraduate
students by general academic teaching institutions and to certain
reports regarding certain costs of those institutions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 54, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 54.016 to read as follows:
Sec. 54.016. LIMITATION ON INCREASE IN TOTAL ACADEMIC COSTS
CHARGED TO RESIDENT UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS. (a) In this section:
(1) "General academic teaching institution" has the
meaning assigned by Section 61.003.
(2) "Core operational costs" means those costs as
estimated by the Legislative Budget Board under Section 51.973.
(3) "Total academic costs":
(A) includes:
(i) tuition for which the rates are
prescribed by this chapter;
(ii) tuition charged by a general academic
teaching institution under Section 54.0513 or another law
authorizing a general academic teaching institution to establish
tuition rates;
(iii) mandatory academic fees; and
(iv) any other academic-related general
fees and college course fees, including fees for laboratories,
field trips, access to Internet or multimedia service, equipment
replacement, and instructional technology; and
(B) does not include optional fees charged to a
student for voluntary services or a fee approved by students of the
institution in a referendum held at the institution for that
purpose.
(b) This subsection applies to total academic costs charged
to students for the 2010-2011, 2011-2012, and 2012-2013 academic
years by a general academic teaching institution. In an academic
year to which this subsection applies, the total academic costs
charged by a general academic teaching institution to an
undergraduate student who is a resident of this state may not exceed
the total academic costs that the institution would have charged to
a similarly situated student in the preceding academic year by more
than the greater of:
(1) 3.95 percent; or
(2) $280.
(c) For purposes of this section, 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 total academic costs charged to the
student.
(d) This section does not ensure that the total academic
costs charged to an individual student will not increase by more
than the limitation prescribed by Subsection (b) based on a change
in the student's residency status, degree program, course load,
course level, tuition exemption status, or other circumstance
affecting the total academic costs charged to the student.
(e) This section expires September 1, 2013.
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 CERTAIN UNIVERSITY COSTS. (a) Not later than September
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:
(1) 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, 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; and
(2) a certified list of all general academic teaching
institutions ranked according to the amount of total academic costs
charged per student in the academic years covered by the current
state fiscal biennium.
(b) Beginning in 2013, the Legislative Budget Board shall
submit with its estimate under Subsection (a)(1) a comparison of
each institution's actual core operational costs for the preceding
state fiscal biennium to the board's previous estimate of the
institution's core operational costs for that biennium.
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.