By Maxey                                               H.B. No. 628
          Substitute the following for H.B. No. 628:
          By Rodriguez                                       C.S.H.B. No. 628
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to tuition fees and student loans of certain graduate
    1-3  students employed as teaching assistants, assistant instructors, or
    1-4  research assistants at certain public institutions of higher
    1-5  education.
    1-6        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-7        SECTION 1.  Section 54.063, Education Code, is amended to
    1-8  read as follows:
    1-9        Sec. 54.063.  Teaching or Research Assistant.  (a)  A
   1-10  teaching assistant or research assistant of any institution of
   1-11  higher education and the spouse and children of such a teaching
   1-12  assistant or research assistant are entitled to register in a state
   1-13  institution of higher education by paying the tuition fees and
   1-14  other fees or charges required for Texas residents under Section
   1-15  54.051 of this code, without regard to the length of time the
   1-16  assistant has resided in Texas, if the assistant is employed at
   1-17  least one-half time in a teaching or research assistant position
   1-18  which relates to the assistant's degree program under rules and
   1-19  regulations established by the employer institution.
   1-20        (b)  The governing board of a general academic teaching
   1-21  institution may exempt from the payment of tuition fees a graduate
   1-22  student who:
   1-23              (1)  is employed at the institution as a teaching
   1-24  assistant, assistant instructor, or research assistant;
    2-1              (2)  is researching or writing the report, thesis, or
    2-2  dissertation required by the student's graduate degree program; and
    2-3              (3)  is not enrolled in a course with organized
    2-4  coursework.
    2-5        (c)  A student is considered to be enrolled as a full-time
    2-6  student for purposes of repayment of student loans if the student:
    2-7              (1)  is entitled to an exemption from tuition fees
    2-8  under Subsection (b); or
    2-9              (2)  would be entitled to an exemption from tuition
   2-10  fees under Subsection (b) except that the student is enrolled in a
   2-11  course with organized coursework.
   2-12        (d)  In its appropriations to general academic teaching
   2-13  institutions, the legislature shall compute the local funds
   2-14  available to each institution as if the tuition fees for which an
   2-15  exemption is granted under Subsection (b) were collected by the
   2-16  institution.
   2-17        (e)  In this section, "general academic teaching institution"
   2-18  has the meaning assigned by Section 61.003.
   2-19        SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies
   2-20  beginning with tuition fees due for the fall semester of 1995.
   2-21        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-22  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-23  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-24  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-25  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-26  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-27  passage, and it is so enacted.