H.B. No. 4361
AN ACT
relating to off-campus workforce education or lower-division
programs offered by a public institution of higher education at the
request of an employer.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter Z, Chapter 51, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 51.981 to read as follows:
Sec. 51.981. OFF-CAMPUS WORKFORCE EDUCATION OR
LOWER-DIVISION PROGRAMS REQUESTED BY EMPLOYERS. An institution of
higher education may enter into an agreement with an employer to
provide a credit or noncredit off-campus workforce education or
lower-division program to the institution's students at a site
requested by the employer without the approval of a higher
education regional council established under Subchapter N,
regardless of whether the site at which the program would be offered
is located within the institution's uniform state service region
or, if the institution is a public junior college, within the junior
college district's service area, if:
(1) the employer has solicited an agreement to offer
the program at that site with another institution of higher
education that offers the same or substantially equivalent
coursework as that requested by the employer;
(2) the proposed site for the off-campus program is
located within the uniform state service region in which the
institution described by Subdivision (1) is located or, if the
institution is a public junior college, within the junior college
district's service area; and
(3) the institution of higher education described by
Subdivision (1) does not finalize an offer to enter into an
agreement with the employer that meets the employer's
specifications for the off-campus program within six weeks after
the employer's initial written solicitation requesting the
institution to offer the program.
SECTION 2. Section 51.981, Education Code, as added by this
Act, applies beginning with the 2021-2022 academic year.
SECTION 3. 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, 2021.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 4361 was passed by the House on May
14, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 143, Nays 0, 2 present, not
voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 4361 was passed by the Senate on May
24, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor