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Senate Bill 1781 |
Senate Author: West |
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Effective: See below |
House Sponsor: González, Mary |
Senate Bill 1781 amends the Education Code to clarify and revise the exemption status of a private postsecondary educational institution with regard to the regulation of such institutions, to clarify the authority of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to issue a certificate of authority to grant degrees to an exempt institution or person, and to authorize the coordinating board to require certain financial resources of an exempt institution or person or an institution operating or seeking to operate under a certificate of authority.
Senate Bill 1781 revises the requirement that authorized or certified institutions maintain certain student records and imposes an administrative penalty on an institution that fails to maintain the academic records of enrolled or former students or that fails to protect the personally identifiable information of those students. The bill authorizes the coordinating board, subject to the availability of funds, to maintain a repository for academic records from closed institutions that were formerly exempt or were authorized under a certificate of authority.
Senate Bill 1781 requires the coordinating board, in consultation with the Texas Workforce Commission, the Texas Veterans Commission, and public institutions of higher education, to develop certain standardized, transferable curricula within commonly offered degree and certificate programs to promote the purposes of the college credit for heroes program.
Senate Bill 1781 takes effect September 1, 2017, but only if a specific appropriation for the bill's implementation is provided in a general appropriations act of the 85th Legislature.