By Ogden                                              H.B. No. 2812
       74R6233 JSA-D
                                 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 the fee is expressly designated by
   1-11  law as a fee that may be used to support intercollegiate athletics
   1-12  and:
   1-13              (1)  if the fee is imposed by action of the governing
   1-14  board, the governing board expressly indicates on adoption of the
   1-15  fee that the fee may be used to support intercollegiate athletics;
   1-16  and
   1-17              (2)  if the initial imposition of the fee is subject to
   1-18  approval at an election of the student body, the ballot expressly
   1-19  states that the fee may be used to support intercollegiate
   1-20  athletics.
   1-21        (b)  The total amount that may be charged for student fees
   1-22  that may be used in whole or part to support intercollegiate
   1-23  athletics may not exceed $50 for a semester or 12-week summer term
   1-24  or $25 for a summer term shorter than 12 weeks.
    2-1        (c)  This section applies to all student fees, including
    2-2  student fees adopted or approved before the date this section
    2-3  became law.
    2-4        (d)  In this section:
    2-5              (1)  "Student fee" means a charge for a compulsory or
    2-6  voluntary fee charged under Subchapter E.  The term does not
    2-7  include receipts from athletic events, including a charge for
    2-8  admission to an event or for the purchase of food, drinks, or other
    2-9  merchandise.
   2-10              (2)  "Governing board" has the meaning assigned by
   2-11  Section 61.003.
   2-12              (3)  "Institution of higher education" has the meaning
   2-13  assigned by Section 61.003.
   2-14        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
   2-15  applies beginning with fees charged for the spring semester of
   2-16  1996.
   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.