By Lewis of Orange, Price H.B. No. 1836
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the tuition charged to certain residents of bordering
1-3 states at certain public institutions of higher education.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 54.060, Education Code, is amended by
1-6 amending Subsections (a) and (e) and adding Subsections (f), (g),
1-7 and (h) to read as follows:
1-8 (a) The nonresident tuition fee prescribed in this chapter
1-9 does not apply to a nonresident student who is a resident of
1-10 Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, or Oklahoma and who registers in a
1-11 two-year institution in the Lamar University System, <any> Texas
1-12 public junior college, or public technical institute<, as defined
1-13 by Section 61.003 of this code,> that is situated in a county
1-14 immediately adjacent to the state in which the nonresident student
1-15 resides. The nonresident tuition fee prescribed in this chapter
1-16 does not apply to a nonresident student who is a resident of New
1-17 Mexico or Oklahoma and who registers in a public technical
1-18 institute that is situated in a county that is within 100 miles of
1-19 the state in which the nonresident student resides and who is
1-20 admitted for the purpose of utilizing available instructional
1-21 facilities. The nonresident student at a two-year institution in
1-22 the Lamar University System, public junior college, or public
1-23 technical institute <student> described in this section shall pay
1-24 an amount equivalent to the amount charged a Texas student
2-1 registered at a similar school in the state in which the
2-2 nonresident student resides. The nonresident student at a public
2-3 junior college or public technical institute described in this
2-4 section shall pay equivalent fees and charges to those charged
2-5 Texas students registered at a similar institution in the state in
2-6 which the nonresident student resides, when such student registers
2-7 at a Texas public senior upper level (those institutions offering
2-8 only junior, senior, and graduate level programs) institution of
2-9 higher education located within the Texas public junior college
2-10 district or within the county in which the public technical
2-11 institute is located or adjacent to such county and from which the
2-12 nonresident student has graduated or completed 45 semester credit
2-13 hours.
2-14 (e) The payment of resident tuition at a two-year
2-15 institution in the Lamar University System or public technical
2-16 institute as authorized by Subsection (a) of this section or at an
2-17 institution of higher education as authorized by Subsection (f)
2-18 does not affect the constitutionally dedicated funding to which
2-19 institutions of higher education are entitled under Article VII,
2-20 Section 17, of the Texas Constitution.
2-21 (f) The nonresident tuition fee prescribed by this chapter
2-22 does not apply to a nonresident student who is a resident of a
2-23 county or parish of Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, or Oklahoma
2-24 that is adjacent to this state and who registers in an institution
2-25 of higher education, as defined by Section 61.003, the governing
2-26 board of which has agreed to admit the student at the resident
2-27 tuition fee prescribed by this chapter. The state in which the
3-1 student resides must allow a resident of a county of this state
3-2 that is adjacent to that state to register in a public institution
3-3 of higher education in that state at the tuition fee charged
3-4 residents of that state. The student shall pay tuition equal to
3-5 that charged residents of this state at the institution.
3-6 (g) In this section:
3-7 (1) "Public technical institute" has the meaning
3-8 assigned by Section 61.003 of this code.
3-9 (2) "Two-year institution in the Lamar University
3-10 System" means:
3-11 (A) Lamar University at Orange;
3-12 (B) Lamar University at Port Arthur; or
3-13 (C) the Lamar University Institute of Technology
3-14 in Beaumont.
3-15 (h) If legislation enacted by the 74th Legislature, Regular
3-16 Session, 1995, transferring the governance of a two-year
3-17 institution in the Lamar University System to another board of
3-18 regents becomes law, the institution is considered to be an
3-19 institution in the Lamar University System for purposes of this
3-20 section notwithstanding the transfer of governance. If no
3-21 legislation enacted by the 74th Legislature, Regular Session, 1995,
3-22 transferring the governance of a two-year institution in the Lamar
3-23 University System to another board of regents becomes law, this
3-24 subsection expires January 1, 1996.
3-25 SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with tuition charged
3-26 for the fall semester of 1995.
3-27 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
4-1 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-2 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-3 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-4 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-5 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-6 passage, and it is so enacted.