By Counts, Willis                                      H.B. No. 534
       74R2143 JSA-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to exempting members of the Texas National Guard from
    1-3  tuition charged by an institution of higher education.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Subchapter D, Chapter 54, Education Code, is
    1-6  amended by adding Section 54.202 to read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 54.202.  NATIONAL GUARD EXEMPTION.  (a)  The governing
    1-8  board of each institution of higher education shall exempt an
    1-9  eligible member of the Texas National Guard from the payment of all
   1-10  tuition.
   1-11        (b)  To be eligible for an exemption under this section, a
   1-12  person must:
   1-13              (1)  have resided in this state for the 12 months
   1-14  immediately preceding the beginning of the semester or session for
   1-15  which an exemption is sought;
   1-16              (2)  maintain satisfactory performance as prescribed by
   1-17  the adjutant general's department as a member in good standing of
   1-18  the Texas National Guard for the entire semester or other academic
   1-19  session for which an exemption is sought; and
   1-20              (3)  have enlisted or agreed to enlist for a period of
   1-21  additional duty in the Texas National Guard as required by rule
   1-22  adopted under Subsection (e).
   1-23        (c)  A person is not eligible for an exemption under this
   1-24  section if the person has:
    2-1              (1)  previously received an exemption under this
    2-2  section for 12 semesters or other academic sessions; or
    2-3              (2)  received a postgraduate or professional degree.
    2-4        (d)  A semester or other academic session in which the person
    2-5  withdrew from or failed to complete the courses in which the person
    2-6  was enrolled because the person was mobilized or called to active
    2-7  duty in connection with the person's service as a member of the
    2-8  Texas National Guard is not considered in determining the
    2-9  eligibility of the person under Subsection (c)(1) for an exemption.
   2-10        (e)  The adjutant general by rule shall establish a
   2-11  reasonable period of additional duty for which a member of the
   2-12  Texas National Guard must enlist or agree to enlist for each
   2-13  semester or session for which the member receives an exemption
   2-14  under this section.
   2-15        (f)  In this section, "Texas National Guard" means the Texas
   2-16  National Guard as defined and constituted under Chapter 431,
   2-17  Government Code.
   2-18        SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act takes effect
   2-19  beginning with the fall semester in 1995.
   2-20        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-21  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-22  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-23  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-24  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-25  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-26  passage, and it is so enacted.