SRC-HRD C.S.S.B. 840 75(R)BILL ANALYSIS Senate Research CenterC.S.S.B. 840 By: Ratliff Finance 4-17-97 Committee Report (Substituted) DIGEST The University of Texas at Tyler (UT - Tyler) is currently an upper-level institution, offering junior, senior, and graduate courses to approximately 3,500 students. Recognized as a broad spectrum liberal arts university, UT - Tyler attracts students from many Texas counties as well as other states and foreign countries. This bill would authorize UT - Tyler to offer undergraduate programs at the freshman and sophomore level as well as the junior and senior levels. PURPOSE As proposed, C.S.S.B. 840 authorizes the University of Texas at Tyler to offer undergraduate programs at the freshman and sophomore level as well as the junior and senior levels. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY Rulemaking authority is granted to the board of regents of the University of Texas System under SECTION 2 (Section 76.025, Education Code) of this bill. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 76.02, Education Code, to require the University of Texas at Tyler (UT - Tyler) to offer undergraduate programs, rather than junior and senior undergraduate programs, and graduate programs, both of which are subject to the authority of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (coordinating board), rather than to the authority of the Texas College and University System. Prohibits UT - Tyler from offering a lower division course off the campus of UT - Tyler until the fall semester of 2001. Authorizes UT - Tyler, if the coordinating board approves an engineering degree at UT - Tyler, to offer lower division courses relating to that program. Deletes a requirement regarding the offering of lower division courses relating to an engineering degree program offered at UT - Tyler. Provides that enrollment limits provided by Section 76.026 do not apply to that program. Makes conforming changes. SECTION 2. Amends Chapter 76, Education Code, by adding Sections 76.025 and 76.026, as follows: Sec. 76.025. UNIVERSITY ADMISSIONS. Prohibits UT - Tyler from adopting or using an open enrollment policy. Requires the board of regents of the University of Texas System (board) to adopt admissions standards for UT - Tyler for first-time freshman students that are at least as stringent as the 1997 fall semester admission standards for first-time students at the University of Texas at Arlington. Requires the board to comply with Subsection (b) not later than January 1, 2000. Provides that this subsection expires January 1, 2001. Sec. 76.026. ENROLLMENT LIMITS. Sets forth provisions regarding the maximum number of full-time equivalent freshman and sophomore students who may be enrolled at the University of Texas at Tyler. Prohibits UT - Tyler from admitting a student as a freshman before the 1998 summer session. Provides that this section expires January 1, 2003. SECTION 3. Amends Section 76.07, Education Code, to require UT - Tyler to seek to build and expand partnership agreements in the same manner as authorized by Chapter 51N. Authorizes UT Tyler, with the approval of the coordinating board, to enter into a partnership agreement with a private institution of higher education located in the same county as any campus of UT - Tyler, subject to the same provisions as provided by Chapter 51N, for a partnership agreement between an institution covered by that section and a public junior college. Deletes Subsections (c) and (d) regarding lower division courses. Makes conforming changes. SECTION 4. Requires the coordinating board, not later than May 31, 1998, to prepare a nonbinding impact statement examining the initial implementation of this Act and to deliver a copy of the statement to the board of regents of the University of Texas System, to the board of trustees of Tyler Junior College District, and to the chair of the standing committee of each house of the legislature with primary jurisdiction over higher education. SECTION 5. Emergency clause. Effective date: upon passage. SUMMARY OF COMMITTEE CHANGES SECTION 1. Amends Section 76.02, Education Code, to add a new Subsection (b) and renumber existing Subsection (b) as Subsection (c). Removes certain proposed deletions in proposed Subsection (b) to authorize UT - Tyler, if the coordinating board approves an engineering degree program at UT - Tyler, to offer lower division courses relating to that program. Provides that the enrollment limits provided by Section 76.026 do not apply to that program. SECTION 2. Redesignates proposed SECTION 2 as SECTION 3. Amends Chapter 76, Education Code, by adding Sections 76.025 and 76.026 regarding university admissions and enrollment limits. SECTION 3. Redesignated from proposed SECTION 2. Redesignates proposed SECTION 3 as SECTION 5. Makes a nonsubstantive change. SECTION 4. Adds a new SECTION regarding the preparation and delivery of a nonbinding impact statement.