Texas 2015 - 84th Regular

Texas House Bill HCR40 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	84R6016 BK-D
2	2	By: Anchia H.C.R. No. 40
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4	4
5	5	CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
6	6	WHEREAS, The American dream holds that there are no limits to
7	7	what one can achieve through hard work and individual merit, and for
8	8	a great majority of Americans, a quality education is integrally
9	9	linked to future success; and
10	10	WHEREAS, Although the advantages that a higher education
11	11	affords are well known, immigrant students across much of the
12	12	country are impeded in their efforts to take this crucial step in
13	13	their career paths; brought to the United States as children, these
14	14	youths have hopes and aspirations like their U.S.-born peers, and
15	15	their numbers include valedictorians, honor students, and student
16	16	body leaders; they had no choice in their parents' decision to enter
17	17	the United States, yet with few options for allaying the cost of
18	18	tuition, they are uniquely limited in their ability to pursue a
19	19	postsecondary education that would allow them meaningful
20	20	integration into the workforce; and
21	21	WHEREAS, In 2001, Texas became the first state to adopt a law,
22	22	H.B. 1403, 77th Legislature, Regular Session, that allowed all
23	23	resident students, regardless of immigration status, to qualify for
24	24	in-state tuition and financial aid at public colleges and
25	25	universities; passed with bipartisan support and later known as the
26	26	Texas Dream Act, this landmark measure has since inspired the
27	27	creation of similar laws, with more than a dozen other states now
28	28	extending in-state tuition rates to undocumented youths; and
29	29	WHEREAS, The reforms introduced by the Texas Dream Act
30	30	represent sound fiscal policy, as immigrants constitute a talented,
31	31	multilingual, and multicultural subset of workers who bring
32	32	valuable skills to an increasingly global economy; such policy
33	33	allows taxpayers to see a return on years of investment in the
34	34	public school education of these individuals, for by improving
35	35	their earning potential, they will in turn provide for a more robust
36	36	tax base; and
37	37	WHEREAS, According to a 2006 report by the Office of the Texas
38	38	Comptroller of Public Accounts, undocumented immigrants in Texas in
39	39	2005 generated more in state revenue than they received in state
40	40	services; in the 2010 fiscal year, close to 16,500 undocumented
41	41	immigrant students qualified for in-state tuition, and the students
42	42	themselves paid $32.7 million in tuition and related expenses; were
43	43	these students to be deprived of the incentives offered by the Texas
44	44	Dream Act, the loss to the Texas economy would be considerable, as
45	45	workers with lower levels of education earn drastically reduced
46	46	wages on average and face significantly higher rates of
47	47	unemployment, forcing them to rely more heavily on social services;
48	48	and
49	49	WHEREAS, The strength of our economy rests on an educated
50	50	workforce, and the Texas Dream Act provides a commonsense approach
51	51	to ensure that intelligent and enterprising youth have access to
52	52	the training and education that businesses need; now, therefore, be
53	53	it
54	54	RESOLVED, That the 84th Legislature of the State of Texas
55	55	hereby affirm its support for the Texas Dream Act and urge all other
56	56	U.S. states to enact similar legislation.