BILL ANALYSIS

Senate Research Center	S.B. 479
86R7995 KJE-D	By: Watson
	Higher Education
	3/8/2019
	As Filed

AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

The legislature created the Joint Admission Medical Program (JAMP) in 2001 to assist qualified, economically-disadvantaged students prepare for and succeed in medical school. JAMP operates through a partnership between nine Texas medical schools and 68 public and private four-year undergraduate institutions.

JAMP works like a pipeline, providing undergraduates that are accepted into the program with scholarships, summer medical internships, MCAT preparation, and travel assistance for interviews. If they continue to meet the program requirements, they are guaranteed admission to one of the participating medical schools and receive more support in the form of scholarships and mentorship.

Two Texas medical schools�The University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School ("Dell Med") and The University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine (UTRGV)�were established in 2015 and have not been added to JAMP or the definition of "medical and dental units" in the Education Code. These provisions need to be updated so that all of Texas' medical schools are accounted for.

S.B. 479 simply updates the Education Code to add Dell Med and UTRGV to the definition of "medical and dental units" under the Education Code and include Dell Med and UTRGV as participating medical schools in JAMP.

Under these provisions, Dell Med and UTRGV will provide internships and mentoring under JAMP as soon as the 2019�2020 academic year, and then they would be required to admit participating students to their medical schools by the 2022�2023 academic year.

As proposed, S.B. 479 amends current law relating to the inclusion in the definition of a medical and dental unit of the Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin and the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and the participation of those schools in the Joint Admission Medical Program.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1. Amends Section 51.821(4), Education Code, to add the medical school at The University of Texas at Austin and the medical school at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley to the definition of "participating medical school," and to make a nonsubstantive change.

SECTION 2. Amends Section 61.003(5), Education Code, to add the Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin and the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley to the definition of "medical and dental unit," and to delete existing text defining The University of Texas Health Science Center--South Texas and its component institutions, if established under Subchapter N (The University of Texas Health Science Center--South Texas), Chapter 74, as a medical and dental unit.

SECTION 3 (a). Requires the medical schools at The University of Texas at Austin and The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley to enter into an agreement with the Joint Admission Medical Program Council required by Section 51.829 (Council Agreement with Participating Medical School), Education Code, and to select an appropriate faculty member to represent the respective medical school on the council, as soon as practicable after the effective date of this Act.

(b) Requires the medical schools at The University of Texas at Austin and The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley to provide internships and mentoring under the Joint Admission Medical Program Council as appropriate beginning with 2019�2020 academic year, but provides that the schools are not required, before the 2022�2023 academic year, to admit participating students to the medical schools under the program.

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SECTION 4.� Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2019.