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Senate Bill 98 |
Senate Author: Lucio et al. |
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Effective: 6-19-09 |
House Sponsor: Lucio III et al. |
Senate Bill 98 amends the Education Code to authorize The University of Texas System board of regents to operate The University of Texas Health Science Center—South Texas as a component institution of the system with its main campus and administrative offices in Cameron County and which may consist of a medical school as well as other health-related degree programs and facilities that the board of regents considers appropriate. The bill authorizes the board of regents to include facilities located in certain South Texas counties in the health science center and to operate programs and activities and provide related services in those counties. If the health science center is established, the bill authorizes the establishment of The University of Texas Medical School—South Texas as a component of the health science center and as a component institution of the system.
The bill entitles the health science center and the medical school, if either institution is established, to participate in the available university fund and to receive funds from the permanent health fund for higher education; makes the health science center's establishment subject to the availability of funding, either through appropriations or from another source; and authorizes the board of regents to enter into agreements under which additional facilities may be provided by a public or private entity. The bill provides that a teaching hospital considered suitable by the board of regents for the health science center may be provided by a public or private entity but prohibits the use of state funds for the hospital's construction, operation, or maintenance.
The bill authorizes the board of regents to convert the Lower Rio Grande Valley Academic Health Center into The University of Texas Health Science Center—South Texas and to establish The University of Texas Medical School—South Texas at the health science center as soon as the board considers appropriate, considering available resources and the best interests of the system and the people of Texas and the South Texas region. The bill transfers the permanent endowment fund established for the benefit of the regional academic health center to the benefit of the health science center and its component institutions when the health science center is established and establishes that bonds authorized or issued for the academic health center are considered to have been authorized or issued for The University of Texas Health Science Center—South Texas and its component institutions if the health science center is established. The bill prohibits funds for a fiscal biennium ending on or before August 31, 2015, from being appropriated for the purposes of the health science center.