By: Maxey H.B. No. 628
73R3320 SOS-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to student services fees at public institutions of higher
1-3 education.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 54.503(b), Education Code, is amended to
1-6 read as follows:
1-7 (b) The governing board of an institution of higher
1-8 education may charge and collect from students registered at the
1-9 institution fees to cover the cost of student services. The fee or
1-10 fees may be either voluntary or compulsory as determined by the
1-11 governing board. The total of all compulsory student services fees
1-12 collected from a student at an institution of higher education
1-13 <other than The University of Texas at Austin or a component
1-14 institution of the University of Houston System> for any one
1-15 semester or summer session shall not exceed $150. All compulsory
1-16 student services fees charged and collected under this section by
1-17 the governing board of an institution of higher education, other
1-18 than a public junior college, shall be assessed in proportion to
1-19 the number of semester credit hours for which a student registers.
1-20 No portion of the compulsory fees collected may be expended for
1-21 parking facilities or services, except as related to providing
1-22 shuttle bus services.
1-23 SECTION 2. Sections 54.5031(a), (b), and (g), Education
1-24 Code, are amended to read as follows:
2-1 (a) A student fee advisory committee is established at each
2-2 institution of higher education <except The University of Texas at
2-3 Austin> to advise the governing board and administration of the
2-4 institution on the type, amount, and expenditure of compulsory fees
2-5 for student services under Section 54.503 of this code.
2-6 (b) Each committee is composed of the following <nine>
2-7 members:
2-8 (1) at least five student members who are enrolled for
2-9 not less than six semester credit hours at the institution and who
2-10 are representative of all students enrolled at the institution,
2-11 both graduate and undergraduate, selected under Subsection (c) of
2-12 this section; and
2-13 (2) at least four members who are representative of
2-14 the entire institution, appointed by the president of the
2-15 institution, one of whom must be a faculty member of the
2-16 institution and one of whom must be a nonfaculty employee of the
2-17 institution.
2-18 (g) Before recommending the student fee budget to the
2-19 governing board of the institution, the president of the
2-20 institution shall consider the report and recommendations of the
2-21 committee. Not later than the 15th day after the date the report
2-22 is submitted under Subsection (f) of this section, the president
2-23 shall return the report to the committee with any suggested
2-24 changes. The committee shall adopt a final report and submit the
2-25 report to the president. The president shall forward the final
2-26 report and recommendations of the committee to the governing board
2-27 of the institution for adoption. The board shall adopt the
3-1 committee's recommended fee amount and allocation unless the amount
3-2 or allocation violates a law. If the board rejects the fee amount
3-3 or allocation submitted by the committee, the board shall send to
3-4 the committee a written explanation of the board's decision not
3-5 later than the 30th day after the date of that decision, and the
3-6 committee shall submit to the president a new report and
3-7 recommendations under Subsection (f) of this section. The board
3-8 may adopt only a fee amount or allocation that is submitted by the
3-9 committee <If the president's recommendations to the governing
3-10 board are substantially different from the committee's
3-11 recommendations to the president, the administration of the
3-12 institution shall notify the committee not later than the last date
3-13 on which the committee may request an appearance at the board
3-14 meeting. On request of a member of the committee, the
3-15 administration of the institution shall provide the member with a
3-16 written report of the president's recommendations to the board>.
3-17 SECTION 3. Sections 54.503(h), 54.5061, 54.5062, 54.513, and
3-18 54.514, Education Code, are repealed.
3-19 SECTION 4. This Act applies beginning with the fall semester
3-20 in 1993.
3-21 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
3-22 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-23 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-24 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-25 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-26 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-27 passage, and it is so enacted.