By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 1323
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the academic costs charged to resident undergraduate
students by general academic teaching institutions and to certain
reports regarding certain costs of those institutions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 54, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 54.018 to read as follows:
Sec. 54.018. LIMITATION ON INCREASE IN TOTAL ACADEMIC COSTS
CHARGED TO RESIDENT UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS. (a) In this section:
(1) "General academic teaching institution" has the
meaning assigned by Section 61.003.
(2) "Core operational costs" means those costs as
estimated by the Legislative Budget Board under Section 51.979.
(3) "Total academic costs":
(A) includes:
(i) tuition for which the rates are
prescribed by this chapter;
(ii) tuition charged by a general academic
teaching institution under Section 54.0513 or another law
authorizing a general academic teaching institution to establish
tuition rates;
(iii) mandatory academic fees; and
(iv) any other academic-related general
fees and course fees, including fees for laboratories, field trips,
access to Internet or multimedia service, equipment replacement,
and instructional technology; and
(B) does not include optional fees charged to a
student for voluntary services or a fee approved by students of the
institution in a referendum held at the institution for that
purpose.
(b) If for any state fiscal biennium the legislature
appropriates to a general academic teaching institution from
undedicated general revenue an amount that is less than the amount
necessary to fully fund the institution's core operational costs
for that biennium, the total academic costs charged by the
institution to undergraduate students who are residents of this
state for an academic year of that biennium may not exceed the
amount that, when added to the amount of undedicated general
revenue appropriated to the institution for the corresponding state
fiscal year for that purpose, is equal to the institution's core
operational costs for that corresponding state fiscal year.
(c) Notwithstanding Section 54.0513(c), the legislature in
an appropriations Act may provide for an adjustment of general
revenue appropriated to a general academic teaching institution for
a state fiscal year to account for an increase in the amount of
total academic costs charged by the institution in that fiscal year
to an individual student of the institution to whom this section
applies, in excess of an amount specified in the appropriations
Act, if the legislature specifies such an amount in that Act.
(d) For purposes of this section, students are similarly
situated if they share the same residency status, degree program,
course load, course level, tuition exemption status, and other
circumstances affecting the total academic costs charged to the
student.
(e) This section does not ensure that the total academic
costs charged to an individual student will not increase by more
than the limitation prescribed by Subsection (b) based on a change
in the student's residency status, degree program, course load,
course level, tuition exemption status, or other circumstance
affecting the total academic costs charged to the student.
SECTION 2. Section 54.0513, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (c) as follows:
(c) Amounts collected by an institution of higher education
under this section are institutional funds as defined by Section
51.009 [of this code] and shall be accounted for as designated
funds. These funds shall not be accounted for in a general
appropriations act in such a way as to reduce the general revenue
appropriation to a particular institution except as provided by
Section 54.018(c).
SECTION 3. Subchapter Z, Chapter 51, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 51.979 to read as follows:
Sec. 51.979. BIENNIAL REPORT BY LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
REGARDING CERTAIN UNIVERSITY COSTS. (a) Not later than September
1 of each even-numbered year, the Legislative Budget Board shall
submit to the Senate Finance Committee, the House Appropriations
Committee, and the standing committee of each house with primary
jurisdiction over higher education for consideration by the members
of those committees in determining the amount of general revenue
appropriations to general academic teaching institutions and
tuition rates at those institutions, the Legislative Budget Board's
estimate of the core operational costs for the next state fiscal
biennium for each general academic teaching institution, based on a
methodology that:
(1) projects for each year of the next biennium:
(A) changes in student enrollment for each
institution; and
(B) a rate of inflation; and
(2) uses data from each institution's annual financial
report regarding costs for instruction, academic support,
institutional support, operations and maintenance of physical
plants, and student services.
(b) The Legislative Budget Board shall submit with its
estimate under Subsection (a)(1) a comparison of each institution's
actual core operational costs for the preceding state fiscal
biennium to the board's previous estimate of the institution's core
operational costs for that biennium.
SECTION 4. Not later than September 1, 2018, each general
academic teaching institution shall submit to the Legislative
Budget Board, the Senate Committee on Finance, the House
Appropriations Committee, and the standing committee of each house
with primary jurisdiction over higher education a detailed plan for
reducing the institution's operational costs by at least five
percent.
SECTION 5. 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.