89R16694 AND-D
By: Shofner H.B. No. 4347
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the eligibility of children and other dependents of
certain military personnel or veterans for tuition and fee
exemptions at public institutions of higher education.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 54.341(k), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(k) The Texas Veterans Commission by rule shall prescribe
procedures to allow:
(1) a person who becomes eligible for an exemption
provided by Subsection (a), or an active member of the armed forces
of the United States who would otherwise be eligible for an
exemption provided by Subsection (a) but for the requirement to
have been honorably discharged, to waive the person's right to any
unused portion of the number of cumulative credit hours for which
the person could receive the exemption and assign the exemption for
the unused portion of those credit hours to a child of the person;
and
(2) following the death of a person who becomes
eligible for an exemption provided by Subsection (a), or an active
member of the armed forces of the United States who would otherwise
be eligible for an exemption provided by Subsection (a) but for the
requirement to have been honorably discharged, the assignment of
the exemption for the unused portion of the credit hours to a child
of the person, to be made by the person's spouse or by the
conservator, guardian, custodian, or other legally designated
caretaker of the child, if the child does not otherwise qualify for
an exemption under Subsection (b).
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act to Section
54.341, Education Code, applies beginning with tuition and fees
charged for the 2025 fall semester. Tuition and fees charged for a
term or semester before the 2025 fall semester are covered by the
law in effect immediately before the effective date of this Act, and
the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
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, 2025.