1-1  By:  Hunter of Nueces, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Bivins) H.B. No. 85
    1-2        (In the Senate - Received from the House April 5, 1995;
    1-3  April 6, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on
    1-4  Education; April 19, 1995, reported favorably by the following
    1-5  vote:  Yeas 9, Nays 0; April 19, 1995, sent to printer.)
    1-6                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-7                                AN ACT
    1-8  relating to the development of distance learning and related
    1-9  activities by institutions of higher education.
   1-10        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-11        SECTION 1.  Subchapter C, Chapter 61, Education Code, is
   1-12  amended by adding Section 61.0771 to read as follows:
   1-13        Sec. 61.0771.  DISTANCE LEARNING MASTER PLAN.  (a)  The
   1-14  board, in cooperation with institutions of higher education, shall
   1-15  develop a master plan for the development of distance learning and
   1-16  other applications of instructional electronic technology by
   1-17  institutions of higher education.  The plan shall include
   1-18  recommendations for:
   1-19              (1)  the coordination and integration of distance
   1-20  learning and related telecommunications activities among
   1-21  institutions of higher education and other public or private
   1-22  entities to achieve optimum efficiency and effectiveness in
   1-23  providing necessary services, including identification of the costs
   1-24  and any cost savings to be achieved by the use of distance learning
   1-25  and related activities such as teleconferencing or sharing
   1-26  resources by telecommunications;
   1-27              (2)  the development and acquisition of distance
   1-28  learning infrastructure and equipment, including its functions and
   1-29  capabilities, within and among institutions of higher education
   1-30  consistent with the missions of those institutions and the
   1-31  recipients of their services;
   1-32              (3)  the establishment of uniform or compatible
   1-33  standards and technologies for distance learning;
   1-34              (4)  the training of faculty and staff in the use and
   1-35  operation of distance learning facilities;
   1-36              (5)  appropriate applications of distance learning,
   1-37  including the identification of the needs of the student
   1-38  populations to be served;
   1-39              (6)  policies relating to the funding for
   1-40  implementation and administering of distance learning, including
   1-41  interinstitutional funds transfers among institutions providing and
   1-42  receiving distance learning services and formula funding
   1-43  allocations, and recommendations for the appropriate fees for
   1-44  services offered through distance learning;
   1-45              (7)  revising regulatory policy relating to public
   1-46  utilities to facilitate distance learning; and
   1-47              (8)  any statutory or regulatory changes desirable to
   1-48  promote distance learning or to implement the master plan.
   1-49        (b)  The board may include in the plan any related
   1-50  recommendation the board considers appropriate, including
   1-51  recommendations for coordination of distance learning with other
   1-52  telecommunications activities and services conducted by government
   1-53  agencies or private entities.
   1-54        (c)  To assist in the development of the plan, the board
   1-55  shall create an advisory committee consisting of experts in
   1-56  distance learning, including school administrators and faculty and
   1-57  lay persons. The board shall include on the committee a
   1-58  representative of each university system and each public senior
   1-59  college or university under a separate governing board, and
   1-60  representatives of public junior colleges, public health science
   1-61  centers, centers created under Chapter 106, Health and Safety Code,
   1-62  medical schools, public technical institutes, and independent
   1-63  institutions of higher education.  The advisory committee shall
   1-64  include at least three faculty members who teach a distance
   1-65  learning course.  The appointment of an employee of an institution
   1-66  of higher education to the committee must be approved by the
   1-67  president or chancellor of that institution.
   1-68        (d)  The advisory committee may request the cooperation or
    2-1  participation of state agencies, public broadcasting stations,
    2-2  representatives of the local and long-distance telecommunications
    2-3  industries, and representatives providing distance learning
    2-4  equipment or services, including computer hardware and software, in
    2-5  preparing the master plan.
    2-6        (e)  The board shall approve the master plan and present it
    2-7  to the legislature not later than December 31, 1996.  The plan
    2-8  shall include a summary of the then-current uses of distance
    2-9  learning and other instructional electronic technologies by
   2-10  institutions of higher education and of the plans of those
   2-11  institutions to implement, improve, or expand the use of distance
   2-12  learning and other instructional electronic technologies.  The
   2-13  board may revise the master plan at any subsequent time as the
   2-14  board considers appropriate.
   2-15        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-16  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-17  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-18  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-19  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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