By:  Harris                                            S.B. No. 944
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to an exemption from certain testing and remedial
    1-2  coursework for a student with dyslexia or a related disorder who
    1-3  enters a public institution of higher education.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 51.306, Education Code, is amended by
    1-6  adding Subsection (q) to read as follows:
    1-7        (q)  A student who has been diagnosed as having dyslexia or a
    1-8  related disorder, as those terms are defined by Section 21.924(a),
    1-9  by a qualified professional whose license or credentials are
   1-10  appropriate to diagnose the disorder as determined by the board and
   1-11  who completes the remedial program prescribed by the institution
   1-12  may be required to retake the test once but may not be referred to
   1-13  an additional remedial course or other remedial program or
   1-14  precluded from enrolling in an upper division course because of the
   1-15  student's performance on the test.
   1-16        SECTION 2.  Section 51.3061, Education Code, is amended by
   1-17  adding Subsection (f) to read as follows:
   1-18        (f)  A student who has been diagnosed as having dyslexia or a
   1-19  related disorder, as those terms are defined by Section 21.924(a),
   1-20  by a qualified professional whose license or credentials are
   1-21  appropriate to diagnose the disorder as determined by the
   1-22  coordinating board and who completes the remedial program
   1-23  prescribed by the institution may be required to retake the test
   1-24  once but may not be referred to an additional remedial course or
    2-1  other remedial program or precluded from enrolling in an upper
    2-2  division course because of the student's performance on the test.
    2-3        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-4  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-5  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-6  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-7  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    2-8  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    2-9  passage, and it is so enacted.