| 1 | 1 | | 85R5297 JRJ-D |
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| 2 | 2 | | By: Bettencourt S.B. No. 598 |
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| 3 | 3 | | |
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| 4 | 4 | | |
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| 5 | 5 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
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| 6 | 6 | | AN ACT |
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| 7 | 7 | | relating to authorization by the Texas Higher Education |
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| 8 | 8 | | Coordinating Board for certain public junior colleges to offer |
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| 9 | 9 | | baccalaureate degree programs. |
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| 10 | 10 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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| 11 | 11 | | SECTION 1. Section 130.0012, Education Code, is amended by |
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| 12 | 12 | | adding Subsections (b-4) and (g-1) and amending Subsection (g) to |
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| 13 | 13 | | read as follows: |
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| 14 | 14 | | (b-4) The coordinating board shall authorize a public |
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| 15 | 15 | | junior college with a service area located wholly or partly in a |
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| 16 | 16 | | county with a population of more than three million to offer a |
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| 17 | 17 | | baccalaureate degree program in the field of applied technology. A |
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| 18 | 18 | | degree program authorized under this subsection may be offered |
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| 19 | 19 | | under an articulation agreement as provided by Section 29.908 with |
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| 20 | 20 | | an early college education program located in the service area of |
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| 21 | 21 | | the public junior college. |
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| 22 | 22 | | (g) Except as provided by Subsection (g-1), in [In] its |
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| 23 | 23 | | recommendations to the legislature relating to state funding for |
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| 24 | 24 | | public junior colleges, the coordinating board shall recommend that |
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| 25 | 25 | | a public junior college receive substantially the same state |
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| 26 | 26 | | support for junior-level and senior-level courses offered under |
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| 27 | 27 | | this section as that provided to a general academic teaching |
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| 28 | 28 | | institution for substantially similar courses. In determining the |
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| 29 | 29 | | contact hours attributable to students enrolled in a junior-level |
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| 30 | 30 | | or senior-level course offered under this section used to determine |
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| 31 | 31 | | a public junior college's proportionate share of state |
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| 32 | 32 | | appropriations under Section 130.003, the coordinating board shall |
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| 33 | 33 | | weigh those contact hours as necessary to provide the junior |
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| 34 | 34 | | college the appropriate level of state support to the extent state |
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| 35 | 35 | | funds for those courses are included in the appropriations. This |
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| 36 | 36 | | subsection does not prohibit the legislature from directly |
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| 37 | 37 | | appropriating state funds to support junior-level and senior-level |
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| 38 | 38 | | courses offered under this section. |
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| 39 | 39 | | (g-1) A degree program created under Subsection (b-4) may be |
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| 40 | 40 | | funded only by a public junior college's proportionate share of |
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| 41 | 41 | | state appropriations under Section 130.003, local funds, and |
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| 42 | 42 | | private sources. This subsection does not require the legislature |
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| 43 | 43 | | to appropriate state funds to support a degree program created |
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| 44 | 44 | | under Subsection (b-4). |
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| 45 | 45 | | SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017. |
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