74R7304 JSA-D
          By Hunter of Nueces, Finnell, Kamel                     H.B. No. 85
          Substitute the following for H.B. No. 85:
          By Ogden                                            C.S.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 within and among institutions
   1-23  of higher education consistent with the missions of those
   1-24  institutions and the recipients of their services;
    2-1              (3)  the establishment of uniform or compatible
    2-2  standards and technologies for distance learning;
    2-3              (4)  the training of faculty and staff in the use and
    2-4  operation of distance learning facilities;
    2-5              (5)  appropriate applications of distance learning,
    2-6  including the identification of the needs of the student
    2-7  populations to be served;
    2-8              (6)  policies relating to the funding for
    2-9  implementation and administering of distance learning, including
   2-10  interinstitutional funds transfers among institutions providing and
   2-11  receiving distance learning services and formula funding
   2-12  allocations, and recommendations for the appropriate fees for
   2-13  services offered through distance learning;
   2-14              (7)  revising regulatory policy relating to public
   2-15  utilities to facilitate distance learning; and
   2-16              (8)  any statutory or regulatory changes desirable to
   2-17  promote distance learning or to implement the master plan.
   2-18        (b)  The board may include in the plan any related
   2-19  recommendation the board considers appropriate, including
   2-20  recommendations for coordination of distance learning with other
   2-21  telecommunications activities and services conducted by government
   2-22  agencies or private entities.
   2-23        (c)  To assist in the development of the plan, the board
   2-24  shall create an advisory committee consisting of experts in
   2-25  distance learning, including school administrators and faculty and
   2-26  lay persons. The board shall include on the committee a
   2-27  representative of each university system and each public senior
    3-1  college or university under a separate governing board, and
    3-2  representatives of public junior colleges, public health science
    3-3  centers and medical schools, public technical institutes, and
    3-4  independent institutions of higher education.  The appointment of
    3-5  an employee of an institution of higher education to the committee
    3-6  must be approved by the president or chancellor of that
    3-7  institution.
    3-8        (d)  The advisory committee may request the cooperation or
    3-9  participation of the Central Education Agency, Department of
   3-10  Information Resources, or General Services Commission in preparing
   3-11  the master plan.
   3-12        (e)  The board shall approve the master plan and present it
   3-13  to the legislature not later than December 31, 1996.  The plan
   3-14  shall include a summary of the then-current uses of distance
   3-15  learning and other instructional electronic technologies by
   3-16  institutions of higher education and of the plans of those
   3-17  institutions to implement, improve, or expand the use of distance
   3-18  learning and other instructional electronic technologies.  The
   3-19  board may revise the master plan at any subsequent time as the
   3-20  board considers appropriate.
   3-21        SECTION 2.  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.