81R908 JRJ-D
By: Shapleigh S.B. No. 191
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to tuition and fee exemptions for undergraduate students
eligible for automatic admission to general academic teaching
institutions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 54, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 54.202 to read as follows:
Sec. 54.202. HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES ELIGIBLE FOR AUTOMATIC
ADMISSION. (a) In this section:
(1) "Coordinating board" means the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board.
(2) "General academic teaching institution" has the
meaning assigned by Section 61.003.
(b) This section applies only to a person who:
(1) qualifies for automatic admission under Section
51.803; and
(2) is admitted to and enrolls in a general academic
teaching institution.
(c) Each general academic teaching institution shall exempt
a person to whom this section applies from the payment of tuition
and special course fees, laboratory fees, and student teaching
fees.
(d) The exemption from tuition under Subsection (c) does not
apply to designated tuition charged under Section 54.0513.
(e) To continue to receive an exemption under this section
after the person has received an exemption under this section for
two or more academic years or the equivalent, a person must:
(1) enroll for a full course load for an undergraduate
student, as determined by the coordinating board, in an
undergraduate degree or certificate program at a general academic
teaching institution; and
(2) have a cumulative grade point average of at least
2.5 on a four-point scale or the equivalent on all coursework
previously attempted at institutions of higher education, if the
person is enrolled in any academic year after the person's second
academic year.
(f) The legislature shall account in the General
Appropriations Act for the exemptions authorized by Subsection (c)
in a way that provides a corresponding increase in the general
revenue funds appropriated to the institution.
(g) In addition to the exemptions authorized by Subsection
(c), the legislature may appropriate money to the coordinating
board to be used to reimburse general academic teaching
institutions for reducing as provided by Subsection (h) the amount
of designated tuition charged under Section 54.0513 to persons
receiving exemptions from tuition and fees under Subsection (c).
(h) Based on the amount of appropriations under Subsection
(g) that are available for each academic year, the coordinating
board shall estimate the amount by which the designated tuition
charged under Section 54.0513 to each person who receives an
exemption from tuition and fees under Subsection (c) in that
academic year may be reduced from the amount that the applicable
institution would otherwise charge the person. The coordinating
board shall distribute the amount of appropriations under this
subsection available for the academic year to general academic
teaching institutions in proportion to the number of semester
credit hours for which the coordinating board estimates students
will receive exemptions under Subsection (c) in that academic year
at each institution.
(i) Each general academic teaching institution that
receives money under Subsection (h) shall reduce the amount of
designated tuition charged to each student who receives an
exemption under Subsection (c) by the amount determined by the
coordinating board for that academic year.
SECTION 2. Section 54.202, Education Code, as added by this
Act, applies beginning with tuition, fees, and other charges for
the 2010 fall semester. Tuition, fees, and other charges for a term
or semester before the 2010 fall 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.