By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 34
(In the Senate - Filed November 12, 2018; February 1, 2019,
read first time and referred to Committee on Higher Education;
March 25, 2019, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 9, Nays 0; March 25, 2019,
sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 34 By: Taylor
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the maximum number of semester credit hours allowed for
and funding sources used to supplement a TEXAS grant.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter M, Chapter 56, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 56.3051 to read as follows:
Sec. 56.3051. MAXIMUM NUMBER OF SEMESTER CREDIT HOURS. A
person may not receive a TEXAS grant for more than the greater of:
(1) 135 semester credit hours or the equivalent; or
(2) 15 semester credit hours, or the equivalent, in
addition to the number of credit hours needed to complete the
student's degree program.
SECTION 2. Section 56.307(j), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(j) A public institution of higher education shall use other
available sources of financial aid, other than a loan or work study,
to cover any difference in the amount of a TEXAS grant awarded to
the student and the actual amount of tuition and required fees at
the institution if the difference results from:
(1) a reduction in the amount of a TEXAS grant under
Subsection (i-1); or
(2) a deficiency in the amount of the grant as
established under Subsection (a) or (e), as applicable, to cover
the full amount of tuition and required fees charged to the student
by the institution.
SECTION 3. Section 56.304(d), Education Code, is repealed.
SECTION 4. The changes in law made by this Act apply
beginning with initial or subsequent TEXAS grants awarded for the
2021 fall semester. Initial or subsequent TEXAS grants awarded for
a semester or term before the 2021 fall semester are governed by the
applicable law in effect immediately before the effective date of
this Act, and the former law is continued in effect for that
purpose.
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, 2019.
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