By: Seliger S.B. No. 857
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the authority of the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board regarding the initiation, consolidation, or
elimination of 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 a
degree or certificate program if the board determines [programs
where] that action is in the best interest of the institution,
[public institutions themselves or the general requirements of] the
State of Texas, or the county [counties] in which the institution is
[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's governing board for that action if the board
determines that action satisfies the criteria prescribed by
Subsection (e) for ordering the initiation of a program. If the
institution's governing board does not accept the board's
recommendation to consolidate or eliminate a degree or certificate
program, the institution, or, if applicable, the university system
of which the institution is a component institution, shall identify
the program as recommended for consolidation or elimination on the
next legislative appropriation request submitted to the
legislature by the institution or university system.
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.