H.B. No. 1836
    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.