83R5771 KSD-D
By: Lewis H.B. No. 1261
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the authority of the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board to consolidate or eliminate a degree or
certificate program offered by a public institution of higher
education.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 61.051, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (e) and adding Subsection (e-1) to read as
follows:
(e) The board shall review periodically the role and mission
statements, the table of programs, and all degree and certificate
programs offered by the public institutions of higher education to
assure that they meet the present and future needs of the state and
the counties in which they are located. The board's review shall be
performed at least every four years and shall involve the
chairperson of the institution's board of regents. The board shall
also order the initiation[, consolidation, or elimination] of
degree or certificate programs where that action is in the best
interest of the public institutions themselves or the general
requirements of the State of Texas, the counties in which they are
located, or when that action offers hope of achieving excellence by
a concentration of available resources. No new department, school,
degree program, or certificate program may be added at any public
institution of higher education except with specific prior approval
of the board. The board may recommend that [authorize] an
institution [to] continue a doctoral program that is inconsistent
with the role and mission of the institution if the program was in
existence on September 1, 1987, and the board determines that
continuation of the program is warranted.
(e-1) The board may not order the consolidation or
elimination of any degree or certificate program offered by an
institution of higher education but may make recommendations to the
institution or to the legislature for that action if the board
determines that action satisfies the criteria prescribed by
Subsection (e) for ordering the initiation of a program.
SECTION 2. 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, 2013.