By Hunter of Nueces, Finnell, Kamel                     H.B. No. 85
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the development of distance learning and related
    1-3  activities by institutions of higher education.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Subchapter C, Chapter 61, Education Code, is
    1-6  amended by adding Section 61.0771 to read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 61.0771.  DISTANCE LEARNING MASTER PLAN.  (a)  The
    1-8  board, in cooperation with institutions of higher education, shall
    1-9  develop a master plan for the development of distance learning and
   1-10  other applications of instructional electronic technology by
   1-11  institutions of higher education.  The plan shall include
   1-12  recommendations for:
   1-13              (1)  the coordination and integration of distance
   1-14  learning and related telecommunications activities among
   1-15  institutions of higher education and other public or private
   1-16  entities to achieve optimum efficiency and effectiveness in
   1-17  providing necessary services, including identification of the costs
   1-18  and any cost savings to be achieved by the use of distance learning
   1-19  and related activities such as teleconferencing or sharing
   1-20  resources by telecommunications;
   1-21              (2)  the development and acquisition of distance
   1-22  learning infrastructure and equipment, including its functions and
   1-23  capabilities, within and among institutions of higher education
   1-24  consistent with the missions of those institutions and the
    2-1  recipients of their services;
    2-2              (3)  the establishment of uniform or compatible
    2-3  standards and technologies for distance learning;
    2-4              (4)  the training of faculty and staff in the use and
    2-5  operation of distance learning facilities;
    2-6              (5)  appropriate applications of distance learning,
    2-7  including the identification of the needs of the student
    2-8  populations to be served;
    2-9              (6)  policies relating to the funding for
   2-10  implementation and administering of distance learning, including
   2-11  interinstitutional funds transfers among institutions providing and
   2-12  receiving distance learning services and formula funding
   2-13  allocations, and recommendations for the appropriate fees for
   2-14  services offered through distance learning;
   2-15              (7)  revising regulatory policy relating to public
   2-16  utilities to facilitate distance learning; and
   2-17              (8)  any statutory or regulatory changes desirable to
   2-18  promote distance learning or to implement the master plan.
   2-19        (b)  The board may include in the plan any related
   2-20  recommendation the board considers appropriate, including
   2-21  recommendations for coordination of distance learning with other
   2-22  telecommunications activities and services conducted by government
   2-23  agencies or private entities.
   2-24        (c)  To assist in the development of the plan, the board
   2-25  shall create an advisory committee consisting of experts in
   2-26  distance learning, including school administrators and faculty and
   2-27  lay persons. The board shall include on the committee a
    3-1  representative of each university system and each public senior
    3-2  college or university under a separate governing board, and
    3-3  representatives of public junior colleges, public health science
    3-4  centers, centers created under Chapter 106, Health and Safety Code,
    3-5  medical schools, public technical institutes, and independent
    3-6  institutions of higher education.  The advisory committee shall
    3-7  include at least three faculty members who teach a distance
    3-8  learning course.  The appointment of an employee of an institution
    3-9  of higher education to the committee must be approved by the
   3-10  president or chancellor of that institution.
   3-11        (d)  The advisory committee may request the cooperation or
   3-12  participation of state agencies, public broadcasting stations,
   3-13  representatives of the local and long-distance telecommunications
   3-14  industries, and representatives providing distance learning
   3-15  equipment or services, including computer hardware and software, in
   3-16  preparing the master plan.
   3-17        (e)  The board shall approve the master plan and present it
   3-18  to the legislature not later than December 31, 1996.  The plan
   3-19  shall include a summary of the then-current uses of distance
   3-20  learning and other instructional electronic technologies by
   3-21  institutions of higher education and of the plans of those
   3-22  institutions to implement, improve, or expand the use of distance
   3-23  learning and other instructional electronic technologies.  The
   3-24  board may revise the master plan at any subsequent time as the
   3-25  board considers appropriate.
   3-26        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   3-27  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    4-1  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    4-2  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    4-3  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.