1-1 AN ACT 1-2 relating to exempting certain children in foster or residential 1-3 care from the payment of tuition and fees at state-supported 1-4 institutions of higher education. 1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-6 SECTION 1. Section 54.211, Education Code, is amended to 1-7 read as follows: 1-8 Sec. 54.211. Exemptions for Students in Foster or Other 1-9 Residential Care. A student is exempt from the payment of tuition 1-10 and fees authorized in this chapter if the student: 1-11 (1) was in foster care or other residential care under 1-12 the conservatorship of the Department of Protective and Regulatory 1-13 Services on or after: 1-14 (A) the day preceding the student's 18th 1-15 birthday; 1-16 (B) the day of the student's 14th birthday, if 1-17 the student was also eligible for adoption on or after that day; or 1-18 (C) the day the student graduated from high 1-19 school or received the equivalent of a high school diploma; and 1-20 (2) enrolls in an institution of higher education as 1-21 an undergraduate student not later than: 1-22 (A) the third anniversary of the date the 1-23 student was discharged from the foster or other residential care, 1-24 the date the student graduated from high school, or the date the 2-1 student received the equivalent of a high school diploma, whichever 2-2 date is earliest; or 2-3 (B) the student's 21st birthday. 2-4 SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with tuition and fees 2-5 for the 1997 fall semester. 2-6 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the 2-7 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 2-8 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 2-9 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 2-10 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 2-11 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 2-12 passage, and it is so enacted. _______________________________ _______________________________ President of the Senate Speaker of the House I certify that H.B. No. 767 was passed by the House on May 6, 1997, by a non-record vote; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B. No. 767 on May 21, 1997, by a non-record vote. _______________________________ Chief Clerk of the House I certify that H.B. No. 767 was passed by the Senate, with amendments, on May 19, 1997, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0. _______________________________ Secretary of the Senate APPROVED: _____________________ Date _____________________ Governor