1-1 By: Lewis of Orange, Price H.B. No. 1836
1-2 (Senate Sponsor - Ratliff)
1-3 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 12, 1995;
1-4 May 16, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on Finance;
1-5 May 25, 1995, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 9,
1-6 Nays 0; May 25, 1995, sent to printer.)
1-7 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-8 AN ACT
1-9 relating to the tuition charged to certain residents of bordering
1-10 states at certain public institutions of higher education.
1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12 SECTION 1. Section 54.060, Education Code, is amended by
1-13 amending Subsections (a) and (e) and adding Subsections (f), (g),
1-14 and (h) to read as follows:
1-15 (a) The nonresident tuition fee prescribed in this chapter
1-16 does not apply to a nonresident student who is a resident of
1-17 Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, or Oklahoma and who registers in a
1-18 two-year institution in the Lamar University System, <any> Texas
1-19 public junior college, or public technical institute<, as defined
1-20 by Section 61.003 of this code,> that is situated in a county
1-21 immediately adjacent to the state in which the nonresident student
1-22 resides. The nonresident tuition fee prescribed in this chapter
1-23 does not apply to a nonresident student who is a resident of New
1-24 Mexico or Oklahoma and who registers in a public technical
1-25 institute that is situated in a county that is within 100 miles of
1-26 the state in which the nonresident student resides and who is
1-27 admitted for the purpose of utilizing available instructional
1-28 facilities. The nonresident student at a two-year institution in
1-29 the Lamar University System, public junior college, or public
1-30 technical institute <student> described in this section shall pay
1-31 an amount equivalent to the amount charged a Texas student
1-32 registered at a similar school in the state in which the
1-33 nonresident student resides. The nonresident student at a public
1-34 junior college or public technical institute described in this
1-35 section shall pay equivalent fees and charges to those charged
1-36 Texas students registered at a similar institution in the state in
1-37 which the nonresident student resides, when such student registers
1-38 at a Texas public senior upper level (those institutions offering
1-39 only junior, senior, and graduate level programs) institution of
1-40 higher education located within the Texas public junior college
1-41 district or within the county in which the public technical
1-42 institute is located or adjacent to such county and from which the
1-43 nonresident student has graduated or completed 45 semester credit
1-44 hours.
1-45 (e) The payment of resident tuition at a two-year
1-46 institution in the Lamar University System or public technical
1-47 institute as authorized by Subsection (a) of this section or at an
1-48 institution of higher education as authorized by Subsection (f)
1-49 does not affect the constitutionally dedicated funding to which
1-50 institutions of higher education are entitled under Article VII,
1-51 Section 17, of the Texas Constitution.
1-52 (f) The nonresident tuition fee prescribed by this chapter
1-53 does not apply to a nonresident student who is a resident of a
1-54 county or parish of Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, or Oklahoma
1-55 that is adjacent to this state and who registers in an institution
1-56 of higher education, as defined by Section 61.003, the governing
1-57 board of which has agreed to admit the student at the resident
1-58 tuition fee prescribed by this chapter. The state in which the
1-59 student resides must allow a resident of a county of this state
1-60 that is adjacent to that state to register in a public institution
1-61 of higher education in that state at the tuition fee charged
1-62 residents of that state. The student shall pay tuition equal to
1-63 that charged residents of this state at the institution.
1-64 (g) In this section:
1-65 (1) "Public technical institute" has the meaning
1-66 assigned by Section 61.003 of this code.
1-67 (2) "Two-year institution in the Lamar University
1-68 System" means:
2-1 (A) Lamar University at Orange;
2-2 (B) Lamar University at Port Arthur; or
2-3 (C) the Lamar University Institute of Technology
2-4 in Beaumont.
2-5 (h) If legislation enacted by the 74th Legislature, Regular
2-6 Session, 1995, transferring the governance of a two-year
2-7 institution in the Lamar University System to another board of
2-8 regents becomes law, the institution is considered to be an
2-9 institution in the Lamar University System for purposes of this
2-10 section notwithstanding the transfer of governance. If no
2-11 legislation enacted by the 74th Legislature, Regular Session, 1995,
2-12 transferring the governance of a two-year institution in the Lamar
2-13 University System to another board of regents becomes law, this
2-14 subsection expires January 1, 1996.
2-15 SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with tuition charged
2-16 for the fall semester of 1995.
2-17 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-18 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-19 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-20 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-21 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-22 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-23 passage, and it is so enacted.
2-24 * * * * *