SRC-MAX S.B. 806 75(R)   BILL ANALYSIS


Senate Research Center   S.B. 806
By: Ogden
Education
3-24-97
As Filed


DIGEST 

Currently, the practice of using student service fees and auxiliary
enterprise revenues to fund intercollegiate athletics is widespread
throughout public institutions of higher education in Texas. Most schools
use these fees to compensate for the deficit in their athletic programs,
or the difference between athletic department generated revenues and
athletic expenditures.  In many cases, students are not aware of the
amount of their student fees being used to pay for athletics.  This
legislation would place a cap on the amount of student fees that can be
used to pay for intercollegiate athletics and would prohibit governing
boards at institutions of higher learning from using revenue derived from
student fees to support athletics unless the institution informs the
students of the amount that will be used to fund athletics and subjects
the fee to approval by student election.   

PURPOSE

As proposed, S.B. 806 prohibits student fees from being used to support
intercollegiate athletics at a public institution of higher education
under certain conditions.  

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

This bill does not grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, institution, or agency. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1. Amends Chapter 54A, Education Code, by adding Section 54.009,
as follows: 

Sec.  54.009.  USE OF FEES TO SUPPORT INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS.
Prohibits the governing board of an institution of higher education from
using revenue derived from any student fee to support intercollegiate
athletics, with certain exceptions.  Prohibits the total amount of student
fees that may be used to support intercollegiate athletics from exceeding
$75 for a semester or 12-week summer term or $25 for a summer term shorter
than 12 weeks.  Provides that this section applies to all student fees,
including student fees adopted or approved before this section became law,
except that a fee approved at an election of the student body before the
date this section became law is subject to Subsection (a)(2) only if the
amount of the fee is increased.  Defines "student fee." 

SECTION 2.  Effective date:  September 1, 1997.  Provides that this Act
applies beginning with fees charged for the spring semester of 1998. 

SECTION 3. Emergency clause.