By Price                                              H.B. No. 1803
       74R5509 JSA-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to designating Lamar University Institute of Technology as
    1-3  a separate degree-granting institution.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 108.36, Education Code, is amended to
    1-6  read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 108.36.  EDUCATIONAL CENTERS.  (a)  The Board shall
    1-8  establish co-educational lower-division institutions of higher
    1-9  education of the Lamar University System as separate
   1-10  degree-granting institutions in the counties of Jefferson and
   1-11  Orange, to be known as Lamar University at Port Arthur and Lamar
   1-12  University at Orange, to teach only freshman and sophomore level
   1-13  courses.
   1-14        (b)  The board shall establish a co-educational
   1-15  lower-division institution of higher education of the Lamar
   1-16  University System as a separate degree-granting institution in
   1-17  Jefferson County, to be known as Lamar University Institute of
   1-18  Technology.  The primary purpose of the institute is to teach
   1-19  technical and vocational courses and related supporting courses.
   1-20        (c)  The board may acquire, construct, or otherwise make
   1-21  provision for adequate physical facilities for use by the
   1-22  institutions established under this section <Lamar University at
   1-23  Port Arthur and Lamar University at Orange> and may accept and
   1-24  administer, on terms and conditions satisfactory to the board,
    2-1  grants or gifts of money or property that <which> are tendered by
    2-2  any person <reason> for the use and benefit of the campuses subject
    2-3  to the normal requirements of the board and the Texas Higher
    2-4  Education Coordinating Board.
    2-5        (d) <(c)>  The board with approval of the Texas Higher
    2-6  Education Coordinating Board, may prescribe courses leading to
    2-7  customary degrees, and make other rules and regulations for the
    2-8  operation, control, and management of the institutions established
    2-9  under this section <Lamar University at Port Arthur and Lamar
   2-10  University at Orange> as necessary for each campus to be a
   2-11  first-class institution for freshman and sophomore students.
   2-12        (e) <(d)>  Nothing in this section shall be construed to
   2-13  limit the powers of the board of regents of the Lamar University
   2-14  System as conferred by law.
   2-15        (f) <(e)>  For each institution established under this
   2-16  section <Lamar University at Port Arthur and Lamar University at
   2-17  Orange>, the board may expend funds allocated to the Lamar
   2-18  University System under Chapter 62 of this code for any of the
   2-19  purposes listed in Article VII, Section 17, of the Texas
   2-20  Constitution, in the same manner and under the same circumstances
   2-21  as expenditures for those purposes for other separate
   2-22  degree-granting institutions.
   2-23        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-24  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-25  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-26  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-27  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    3-1  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    3-2  passage, and it is so enacted.