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House Bill 2099 |
House Author: Guillen |
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Effective: 9-1-13 |
Senate Sponsor: Hinojosa et al. |
House Bill 2099 amends the Education Code to require the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to adopt by rule both an electronic common admission application form for use by a person seeking admission as a student to an undergraduate nursing education program at an institution of higher education and a similar electronic form for use by a person seeking such admission as a transfer student if the coordinating board determines that adoption of such forms would be cost-effective for nursing schools.
House Bill 2099 requires the coordinating board, if the coordinating board directs an advisory committee to assist the coordinating board in exercising its authority regarding an off-campus course in nursing education, including clinical coursework, to require the advisory committee to include or consult with one or more degree-granting private postsecondary educational institutions or private career schools and colleges in Texas.
House Bill 2099 requires the coordinating board to establish and administer a program to provide student loan repayment assistance for nurses serving on the faculties of nursing degree programs at public, private, or independent institutions of higher education in positions that require an advanced degree of professional nursing who apply and qualify for the assistance. The bill sets out eligibility criteria for program participants and for loans to which repayment may be applied; caps an individual's assistance at $7,000 per year for up to five years of full-time employment in such a position; and sets out the manner of delivery for such assistance. The bill requires the coordinating board, in each state fiscal year, to reallocate to the nursing faculty loan repayment assistance program for a particular year any money in the physician education loan repayment program account that exceeds the amount necessary in that fiscal year for purposes of repayment assistance for certain physician education loans. Any money so reallocated that is not used for nursing faculty loan repayment assistance in that fiscal year is treated as if that unused amount had not been reallocated in that fiscal year.
The bill authorizes the coordinating board to solicit and accept gifts and grants for program-related purposes and requires the board to adopt administrative rules as necessary and to distribute those rules to the appropriate entities.