By Ogden                                              H.B. No. 2812
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to student fees to support intercollegiate athletics at a
    1-3  public institution of higher education.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 54, Education Code, is
    1-6  amended by adding Section 54.009 to read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 54.009.  USE OF FEES TO SUPPORT INTERCOLLEGIATE
    1-8  ATHLETICS.  (a)  The governing board of an institution of higher
    1-9  education may not use revenue derived from a student fee to support
   1-10  intercollegiate athletics unless:
   1-11              (1)  the institution informs students of the amount
   1-12  that will be used to support intercollegiate athletics; and
   1-13              (2)  if the fee is subject to approval at an election
   1-14  of the student body, the ballot expressly states the amount of the
   1-15  fee that will be used to support intercollegiate athletics.
   1-16        (b)  The total amount of student fees that may be used in
   1-17  whole or part to support intercollegiate athletics may not exceed
   1-18  $75 for a semester or 12-week summer term or $50 for a summer term
   1-19  shorter than 12 weeks.
   1-20        (c)  This section applies to all student fees, including
   1-21  student fees adopted or approved before the date this section
   1-22  became law, except that a fee approved at an election of the
   1-23  student body before the date this section became law is subject to
   1-24  Subsection (a)(2) only if the amount of the fee is increased.
    2-1        (d)  In this section:
    2-2              (1)  "Student fee" means a charge for a compulsory or
    2-3  voluntary fee charged under Subchapter E.  The term does not
    2-4  include receipts from athletic events, including a charge for
    2-5  admission to an event or for the purchase of food, drinks, or other
    2-6  merchandise.
    2-7              (2)  "Governing board" has the meaning assigned by
    2-8  Section 61.003.
    2-9              (3)  "Institution of higher education" has the meaning
   2-10  assigned by Section 61.003.
   2-11        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
   2-12  applies beginning with fees charged for the spring semester of
   2-13  1996.
   2-14        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-15  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-16  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-17  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-18  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.