73R4764 SOS-F
By Alonzo H.B. No. 982
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the uses of the student deposit fund of public
1-3 institutions of higher education.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 54.5021, Education Code, is amended to
1-6 read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 54.5021. Student Deposit Fund; Composition and Uses.
1-8 (a) The student deposit fund consists of the income from the
1-9 investment or time deposits of general property deposits and of
1-10 forfeited general property deposits. Any general property deposit
1-11 which remains without call for refund for a period of four years
1-12 from the date of last attendance of the student making the deposit
1-13 shall be forfeited and become a part of the student deposit fund.
1-14 Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit refund of
1-15 any balance remaining in a general property deposit when made on
1-16 proper demand and within the four-year limitation period. The
1-17 governing board of the institution may require that no student
1-18 withdraw his deposit until he has been graduated or has apparently
1-19 withdrawn from school.
1-20 (b) The student deposit fund shall be used, at the
1-21 discretion of the governing board, for <any of the following
1-22 purposes:> making scholarship awards to needy and deserving
1-23 students<, the support of a general student union program, or for
1-24 the establishment of an institutional loan program for students.
2-1 Loans made under this subsection shall bear a nominal interest
2-2 rate, be secured by a promissory note from the student to the loan
2-3 fund, require no collateral, and be of a duration not more than 12
2-4 months. A student obtaining a loan under this subsection may have
2-5 no more than two such loans outstanding at any time>. The
2-6 governing board shall administer the scholarship awards for the
2-7 institution, including the selection of recipients and the amounts
2-8 and conditions of the awards. The recipients of the scholarships
2-9 must be residents of the state as defined for tuition purposes.
2-10 <Any use of the funds for the support of student union programs
2-11 shall be approved as to amount and purpose by the board. The
2-12 student deposit funds for The University of Texas at Austin, Texas
2-13 A & M University, and Texas Tech University shall be available for
2-14 scholarship purposes only. Direct expenses for the administration
2-15 of the funds shall be paid from the funds.>
2-16 (c) Not later than August 31 of each fiscal year, each
2-17 institution of higher education that has an unobligated and
2-18 unexpended balance in its student deposit fund that exceeds 150
2-19 percent of the total deposits to that fund during that year shall
2-20 remit to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board the amount
2-21 of that excess. The coordinating board shall allocate on an
2-22 equitable basis amounts received under this subsection to
2-23 institutions of higher education that do not have an excess
2-24 described by this subsection for deposit in their student deposit
2-25 fund. The amount allocated under this subsection may be used only
2-26 for making scholarship awards to needy and deserving students under
2-27 this section.
3-1 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
3-2 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-3 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-4 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-5 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-6 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.