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Senate Bill 1799 |
Senate Author: West |
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Effective: See below |
House Sponsor: Branch et al. |
Senate Bill 1799 amends the Education Code to provide the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, or its successors, ongoing bonding authority in administering the state's higher education student loan program. While previous bond authorizations limited the total amount of bonds issued under each authorization, the bill authorizes the coordinating board to issue and sell general obligation bonds for the purpose of financing student loans as long as the principal amount of outstanding bonds at all times does not exceed the aggregate principal amount of state general obligation bonds previously authorized for that purpose by any other provision or former provision of the Texas Constitution. The bill raises the cap on the total amount of bonds issued by the coordinating board in a state fiscal year from $125 million to $350 million. The bill takes effect contingent on voter approval of the constitutional amendment proposed by Senate Joint Resolution 50, which would authorize the legislature to increase the coordinating board's bonding authority by statute without need for a constitutional amendment and voter approval for the additional bonding authority.