85R7479 JRJ-F
By: Perez H.B. No. 1628
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to authorization by the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board for certain public junior colleges to offer
baccalaureate degree programs.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 130.0012, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a), (b), (e), and (g) and adding Subsections
(b-4), (b-5), (b-6), (e-1), and (g-1) to read as follows:
(a) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board may
[shall] authorize public junior colleges to offer baccalaureate
degree programs in the fields of applied science, [and] applied
technology, and nursing under this section. Offering a
baccalaureate degree program under this section does not otherwise
alter the role and mission of a public junior college.
(b) The coordinating board:
(1) shall authorize baccalaureate degree programs at
each public junior college that previously participated in a pilot
project to offer baccalaureate degree programs; and
(2) may authorize baccalaureate degree programs at one
or more public junior colleges that offer a degree program in the
field of nursing and have demonstrated a workforce need.
(b-4) The coordinating board shall establish a pilot
project to examine the feasibility and effectiveness of authorizing
not more than two baccalaureate degree programs, one in the field of
applied science or applied technology, and one in the field of
nursing at a public junior college with a main campus located in a
county with a population greater than 3.3 million.
(b-5) Not later than January 1, 2019, the coordinating board
shall prepare a progress report on the pilot project established
under Subsection (b-4). Not later than January 1, 2021, the
coordinating board shall prepare a report on the effectiveness of
the pilot project, including any recommendations for legislative
action regarding the offering of baccalaureate degree programs in
the fields of applied science, applied technology, and nursing by a
public junior college. The coordinating board shall deliver a copy
of each report to the governor, the lieutenant governor, the
speaker of the house of representatives, and the chair of the
standing committee of each house of the legislature with primary
jurisdiction over higher education. Unless the authority to
continue offering a baccalaureate degree program in the fields of
applied science, applied technology, and nursing is continued by
the legislature, a public junior college may not:
(1) enroll a new student in a baccalaureate degree
program under the pilot project after the 2022 fall semester;
(2) offer junior-level or senior-level courses for
those degree programs after the 2025 fall semester, unless the
coordinating board authorizes the college to offer those courses;
or
(3) award a baccalaureate degree under the pilot
project after the 2025 fall semester, unless the coordinating board
approves the awarding of the degree.
(b-6) This subsection and Subsections (b-4) and (b-5)
expire on the first December 31 following the first regular
legislative session that occurs after the sixth anniversary of the
date a public junior college offering a degree program in the fields
of applied science, applied technology, and nursing under
Subsection (b-4) meets the accreditation requirements of
Subsection (c).
(e) In determining whether a public junior college may offer
[what] baccalaureate degree programs and what degree programs may
[are to] be offered, the coordinating board shall consider the
following factors:
(1) the workforce need for the degree programs in the
region served by the junior college;
(2) how those degree programs would complement the
other programs and course offerings of the junior college and
whether the associate degree program offered by the junior college
in the same field has been successful;
(3) whether those degree programs would unnecessarily
duplicate the degree programs offered by other institutions of
higher education or whether a partnership with other institutions
of higher education is possible; and
(4) the ability of the junior college to support the
program with student enrollment and the adequacy of the junior
college's facilities, faculty, administration, libraries, and
other resources.
(e-1) A public junior college may offer a baccalaureate
degree program under this section only if its junior college
district meets the taxable property valuation amount established in
Section 130.032.
(g) Except as provided by Subsection (g-1), in [In] its
recommendations to the legislature relating to state funding for
public junior colleges, the coordinating board shall recommend that
a public junior college receive substantially the same state
support for junior-level and senior-level courses offered under
this section as that provided to a general academic teaching
institution for substantially similar courses. In determining the
contact hours attributable to students enrolled in a junior-level
or senior-level course offered under this section used to determine
a public junior college's proportionate share of state
appropriations under Section 130.003, the coordinating board shall
weigh those contact hours as necessary to provide the junior
college the appropriate level of state support to the extent state
funds for those courses are included in the appropriations. This
subsection does not prohibit the legislature from directly
appropriating state funds to support junior-level and senior-level
courses offered under this section.
(g-1) For the first two years in which a degree program
created under Subsection (b)(2) is offered, the degree program may
be funded solely by a public junior college's proportionate share
of state appropriations under Section 130.003, local funds, and
private sources.
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, 2017.