1-1  By:  Nelson                                            S.B. No. 150
    1-2        (In the Senate - Filed January 20, 1993; January 21, 1993,
    1-3  read first time and referred to Committee on Education;
    1-4  February 10, 1993, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas
    1-5  10, Nays 0; February 10, 1993, sent to printer.)
    1-6                            COMMITTEE VOTE
    1-7                          Yea     Nay      PNV      Absent 
    1-8        Ratliff            x                               
    1-9        Haley              x                               
   1-10        Barrientos                                    x    
   1-11        Bivins             x                               
   1-12        Harris of Tarrant  x                               
   1-13        Luna               x                               
   1-14        Montford           x                               
   1-15        Shapiro            x                               
   1-16        Sibley             x                               
   1-17        Turner             x                               
   1-18        Zaffirini          x                               
   1-19                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
   1-20                                AN ACT
   1-21  relating to the student use fee at Tarleton State University.
   1-22        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-23        SECTION 1.  Section 55.16, Education Code, is amended to read
   1-24  as follows:
   1-25        Sec. 55.16.  Rentals, Rates, Charges, and Fees.  <(a)>  Each
   1-26  board shall be authorized to fix and collect rentals, rates,
   1-27  charges, and/or fees from students and others for the occupancy,
   1-28  services, use, and/or availability of all or any of its property,
   1-29  buildings, structures, activities, operations, or other facilities,
   1-30  in such amounts and in such manner as may be determined by the
   1-31  board; provided, however, that all student use fees shall be fixed
   1-32  and collected in proportion to the number of semester credit hours
   1-33  for which a student registers, and shall not exceed $12 per
   1-34  semester hour, except that those schools charging more than $6 per
   1-35  semester hour as of May 1, 1975, shall not exceed the amount being
   1-36  charged as of that date<, and except as provided by Subsection (b)
   1-37  of this section>.  The board may waive all or any part of any such
   1-38  student use fees in the case of any student for whom the payment of
   1-39  such student use fee would cause an undue economic hardship, except
   1-40  that the number of such students for whom such waivers are granted
   1-41  shall not exceed 5% of the total enrollment; and further provided
   1-42  that nothing in this section shall affect, limit, or impair any
   1-43  pledge, covenant, or option made or reserved by the board with
   1-44  respect to any revenue bonds outstanding as of the 1975 amendment
   1-45  to this section, issued by the board pursuant to this chapter; and
   1-46  provided that hereafter if bonds are issued pursuant to Section
   1-47  55.17 of this code, to be secured by a pledge of a limited or
   1-48  unlimited use fee, and if, at the time of authorizing the issuance
   1-49  of the bonds, (1) the estimated maximum amount per semester hour of
   1-50  such pledged use fee (based on then current enrollment and
   1-51  conditions) during any future semester necessary to provide for the
   1-52  payment of the principal of and interest on the bonds when due,
   1-53  together with (2) the aggregate amount of all use fees which were
   1-54  levied on a semester hour basis for the then current semester to
   1-55  pay the principal of and interest on all previously issued bonds,
   1-56  do not exceed $12 per semester hour, <except as provided by
   1-57  Subsection (b) of this section,> then such limited or unlimited use
   1-58  fee shall be levied and collected when and to the extent required
   1-59  by the resolution authorizing the issuance of the bonds in any
   1-60  amount required to provide for the payment of the principal of and
   1-61  interest on the bonds, regardless of any other provision of this
   1-62  section or the limitations contained herein.
   1-63        <(b)  If approved by student vote as provided by this
   1-64  subsection, for students enrolled at Tarleton State University, the
   1-65  board of regents of The Texas A&M University System may set the
   1-66  student use fee authorized under Subsection (a) of this section in
   1-67  an amount not to exceed $12 per semester hour.  The fee increase
   1-68  may not be imposed unless the increase has been approved by a
    2-1  majority of those students voting on the issue in a general student
    2-2  election in which the issue is presented.>
    2-3        SECTION 2.  Section 55.16, Education Code, as amended by this
    2-4  Act, applies only to student use fees at Tarleton State University
    2-5  that become due beginning with the fall semester in 1993.  Student
    2-6  use fees at Tarleton State University that became due before that
    2-7  semester are governed by the law in effect at the time those fees
    2-8  were due, and that law is continued in effect for this purpose
    2-9  only.
   2-10        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-11  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-12  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-13  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-14  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-15  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-16  passage, and it is so enacted.
   2-17                               * * * * *
   2-18                                                         Austin,
   2-19  Texas
   2-20                                                         February 10,
   2-21  1993
   2-22  Hon. Bob Bullock
   2-23  President of the Senate
   2-24  Sir:
   2-25  We, your Committee on Education to which was referred S.B. No. 150,
   2-26  have had the same under consideration, and I am instructed to
   2-27  report it back to the Senate with the recommendation that it do
   2-28  pass and be printed.
   2-29                                                         Ratliff,
   2-30  Chairman
   2-31                               * * * * *
   2-32                               WITNESSES
   2-33                                                  FOR   AGAINST  ON
   2-34  ___________________________________________________________________
   2-35  Name:  Demis McCabe                              X
   2-36  Representing:  Tarleton State Univ.
   2-37  City:  Stephenville
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   2-39  Name:  Edward Bicket                             X
   2-40  Representing:  Tarleton State Univ.
   2-41  City:  Stephenville
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