| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to eligibility of certain current or former members of the |
|
|
Texas National Guard or the Texas Air National Guard 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(a), Education Code, is amended to |
|
|
read as follows: |
|
|
(a) The governing board of each institution of higher |
|
|
education shall exempt the following persons from the payment of |
|
|
tuition, dues, fees, and other required charges, including fees for |
|
|
correspondence courses but excluding general deposit fees, student |
|
|
services fees, and any fees or charges for lodging, board, or |
|
|
clothing, provided the person seeking the exemption currently |
|
|
resides in this state and entered the service at a location in this |
|
|
state, declared this state as the person's home of record in the |
|
|
manner provided by the applicable military or other service, or |
|
|
would have been determined to be a resident of this state for |
|
|
purposes of Subchapter B at the time the person entered the service: |
|
|
(1) all nurses and honorably discharged members of the |
|
|
armed forces of the United States who served during the |
|
|
Spanish-American War or during World War I; |
|
|
(2) all nurses, members of the Women's Army Auxiliary |
|
|
Corps, members of the Women's Auxiliary Volunteer Emergency |
|
|
Service, and all honorably discharged members of the armed forces |
|
|
of the United States who served during World War II except those who |
|
|
were discharged from service because they were over the age of 38 or |
|
|
because of a personal request on the part of the person that the |
|
|
person be discharged from service; |
|
|
(3) all honorably discharged men and women of the |
|
|
armed forces of the United States who served during the national |
|
|
emergency which began on June 27, 1950, and which is referred to as |
|
|
the Korean War; [and] |
|
|
(4) all persons who were honorably discharged from the |
|
|
armed forces of the United States after serving on active military |
|
|
duty, excluding training, for more than 180 days and who served a |
|
|
portion of their active duty during: |
|
|
(A) the Cold War which began on the date of the |
|
|
termination of the national emergency cited in Subdivision (3); |
|
|
(B) the Vietnam era which began on December 21, |
|
|
1961, and ended on May 7, 1975; |
|
|
(C) the Grenada and Lebanon era which began on |
|
|
August 24, 1982, and ended on July 31, 1984; |
|
|
(D) the Panama era which began on December 20, |
|
|
1989, and ended on January 21, 1990; |
|
|
(E) the Persian Gulf War which began on August 2, |
|
|
1990, and ends on the date thereafter prescribed by Presidential |
|
|
proclamation or September 1, 1997, whichever occurs first; |
|
|
(F) the national emergency by reason of certain |
|
|
terrorist attacks that began on September 11, 2001; or |
|
|
(G) any future national emergency declared in |
|
|
accordance with federal law; and |
|
|
(5) all current members of the Texas National Guard or |
|
|
the Texas Air National Guard who have served on active state |
|
|
military duty, excluding training, for more than 180 days, and all |
|
|
members of the Texas National Guard or the Texas Air National Guard |
|
|
who were honorably discharged after serving on active state |
|
|
military duty, excluding training, for more than 180 days. |
|
|
SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act to Section |
|
|
54.341, Education Code, apply beginning with tuition and fees |
|
|
charged for the 2023 fall semester. Tuition and fees charged for a |
|
|
term or semester before the 2023 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, 2023. |