Enrolled Bill Summary

            House Bill 658 amends the Education Code to authorize the governing boards of various public colleges and universities to issue bonds or notes in the specified amounts to finance certain institutional acquisitions, purchases, construction, renovation, or equipping of buildings, facilities, and infrastructure or other capital improvements.

            The bill requires that tuition revenue, special mineral fund revenue collected and deposited in the state treasury, and the interest earned on those revenues be treated as designated funds in the general revenue fund, and it provides that their deposit to the credit of an account does not (1) affect a pledge or the ability to pledge revenue to secure and pay bonds issued or incurred by the governing board of a higher education institution; (2) cause the bonds to constitute state debt or be payable from the state's full faith and credit; (3) change the character of the revenues as a separate revenue of the collecting institution; or (4) cause the revenue to be considered general revenue for purposes of Sections 17 and 18, Article VII, Texas Constitution.

            The bill establishes that a provision of Title 3 of the code or any other law limiting the purposes for which money under the control of a higher education institution's governing board may be spent does not impair that board's authority to pledge and use any revenue under its control to secure or pay the board's obligations. It requires a board to fix, within applicable limits, each rental, rate, charge, or fee that it is allowed to fix in an amount it deems necessary to pay all costs associated with each activity or service for which the rental, rate, charge, or fee is imposed, and it allows a board to accumulate all authorized mandatory fees or charges as a separate facilities and services charge for billing and reporting purposes.