By Goolsby, et al.                                     H.B. No. 815
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to certain fees charged by certain public institutions of
    1-3  higher education.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Subchapter E, Chapter 54, Education Code, is
    1-6  amended by adding Section 54.544 to read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 54.544.  RECREATIONAL FACILITY FEE; THE UNIVERSITY OF
    1-8  TEXAS AT DALLAS.  (a)  The board of regents of The University of
    1-9  Texas System may charge each student enrolled at The University of
   1-10  Texas at Dallas a recreational facility fee to finance, construct,
   1-11  equip, operate, maintain, or improve student recreational
   1-12  facilities or programs at the university.
   1-13        (b)  A recreational facility fee may not exceed:
   1-14              (1)  $40 for each student for a semester of the regular
   1-15  term or a 12-week summer session; and
   1-16              (2)  $26.67 for each student for an eight-week summer
   1-17  session.
   1-18        (b-1)  Before the fall semester of 1998, a recreational
   1-19  facility fee may not exceed:
   1-20              (1)  $25 for each student for a semester of the regular
   1-21  term or a 12-week summer session; and
   1-22              (2)  $16.67 for each student for an eight-week summer
   1-23  session.
   1-24        (b-2)  Subsection (b-1) and this subsection expire January 1,
    2-1  1999.
    2-2        (c)  A recreational facility fee may not be charged or
    2-3  increased unless charging or increasing the fee is approved by a
    2-4  majority vote of the students participating in a general student
    2-5  election called for that purpose.
    2-6        (d)  The board of regents shall collect a fee charged under
    2-7  this section and deposit the fee in an account known as the
    2-8  recreational facility account.
    2-9        (e)  The board of regents may pledge a fee charged under this
   2-10  section to pay an obligation issued under the revenue financing
   2-11  system of The University of Texas System.
   2-12        (f)  A fee charged under this section may not be counted in
   2-13  determining the maximum amount of student services fees that may be
   2-14  charged under Section 54.503(b).
   2-15        (g)  A recreational facility fee may not be collected after
   2-16  the 20th anniversary of the date it is first collected or after all
   2-17  bonded indebtedness for the recreational facility for which the fee
   2-18  receipts are pledged is paid, whichever is later.
   2-19        SECTION 2.  Sections 54.538(a), (b), and (c), Education Code,
   2-20  are amended to read as follows:
   2-21        (a)  If approved by student vote at a system institution, the
   2-22  Board of Regents, Texas State University System, may charge each
   2-23  student enrolled at such institution a recreational sports fee not
   2-24  to exceed $50 <$35> per semester or 10-week summer session or $25
   2-25  <$17.50> per five-week summer session.  The fee may be used to
   2-26  purchase equipment for and to construct, operate, and maintain
   2-27  recreational sports facilities and programs at the designated
    3-1  institution <university>.
    3-2        (b)  The recreation fee authorized by this section may not be
    3-3  <levied or> increased more than 10 percent from one academic year
    3-4  to the next unless the <levy of the fee or the> increase has been
    3-5  approved by a majority vote of those students at the affected
    3-6  institution participating in a general student election called for
    3-7  that purpose.  The fee may not exceed the amounts provided by
    3-8  Subsection (a).
    3-9        (c)  Each system institution <university> shall collect any
   3-10  student recreational sports fee imposed under this section and
   3-11  shall deposit the money collected in an account to be known as the
   3-12  student recreational sports account.
   3-13        SECTION 3.  This Act applies beginning with the fall semester
   3-14  of 1995.
   3-15        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   3-16  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   3-17  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   3-18  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   3-19  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   3-20  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   3-21  passage, and it is so enacted.