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Senate Bill 1728 |
Senate Author: West |
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Effective: 6-19-09 |
House Sponsor: Chavez et al. |
Senate Bill 1728 amends the Education Code to remove a provision that required an undergraduate student to have enrolled at an institution of higher education not later than the first fall semester following the student's graduation from high school as a condition of eligibility for admission to the Joint Admission Medical Program or for selection as a program alternate, and repeals a provision that entitled a student who had applied for admission into the program and met the eligibility criteria to receive a scholarship and specified academic counseling to be paid with program funds. The bill makes these provisions applicable beginning with applicants for admission to the program during the 2009-2010 academic year. The bill also repeals a provision that prohibited a person from serving on the Joint Admission Medical Program Council for more than six years.
The bill adds the medical school at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at El Paso to the list of medical schools participating in the program and requires the medical school, as soon as practicable after the bill's effective date, to enter into the agreement with the council required by state law and to select an appropriate faculty member to represent the medical school on the council. The bill requires the medical school to provide internships and mentoring under the program as appropriate beginning with the 2011-2012 academic year, and to admit participating students under the program beginning with the 2012-2013 academic year.