Enrolled Bill Summary

Senate Bill 93	Senate Author:  Van de Putte et al.
Effective:  6-19-09	House Sponsor:  Castro

            Previous law entitled certain military personnel to tuition and fee exemptions at institutions of higher education in the state if the person seeking the exemption was a Texas citizen at the time the person entered military service and had been a Texas resident for at least 12 months before the date of registration.  The children of certain deceased or disabled members of the armed forces also were entitled to such tuition and fee exemptions under the same conditions of Texas citizenship and 12-month state residency before registration.  Senate Bill 93 amends the Education Code to revise the residency requirements for such an exemption by requiring the person seeking the exemption to have entered the service at a location in Texas, to have declared Texas as the person's home of record in the manner provided by the applicable military or other service, or to have been determined to be a resident of Texas for purposes of determining the person's eligibility to pay in-state tuition rates at the time the person entered the service.

            Senate Bill 93 establishes that a person who received such an exemption before the 2009‑2010 academic year continues to be eligible for the exemption under that law as it existed on January 1, 2009, subject to the other provisions of the law and the bill, other than the revised residency requirement.  The bill also extends this exemption, including the same applicable Texas citizenship and residency requirement, to the spouse of a deceased or disabled member of the United States armed forces or of the Texas National Guard or the Texas Air National Guard whose death or disability is a result of the member's military service.

            Senate Bill 93 requires the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to prescribe by rule procedures to allow a person eligible for an exemption to waive the person's right to any unused portion of the maximum number of cumulative credit hours for which the person could receive the exemption and assign the exemption for the unused portion of those credit hours to a child of the person, and sets forth eligibility requirements for such a child. The bill establishes that, for the purposes of this provision, a person is the child of another person if the person is the stepchild or the biological or adopted child of the other person or if the other person claimed the person as a dependent on a federal income tax return filed for the preceding year or will claim the person as a dependent on a federal income tax return for the current year.

            Senate Bill 93 clarifies the exclusion of certain individuals from this exemption on the basis of such an individual's entitlement to educational benefits under federal legislation that may be used only for the payment of tuition and fees. The bill makes its provisions applicable beginning with tuition and fees for the 2009 fall semester and requires an institution of higher education to refund to a student who becomes eligible for an exemption in that semester and who has paid the tuition and other fees for that semester the amount of the tuition and fees paid by the student in the amount of the exemption.