1-1     By:  Junell, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Lindsay)         H.B. No. 767

 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House May 7, 1997;

 1-3     May 8, 1997, read first time and referred to Committee on Finance;

 1-4     May 17, 1997, reported adversely, with favorable Committee

 1-5     Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 11, Nays 0; May 17, 1997,

 1-6     sent to printer.)

 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 767                 By:  Moncrief

 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-9                                   AN ACT

1-10     relating to exempting certain children in foster or residential

1-11     care from the payment of tuition and fees at state-supported

1-12     institutions of higher education.

1-13           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-14           SECTION 1.  Section 54.211, Education Code, is amended to

1-15     read as follows:

1-16           Sec. 54.211.  Exemptions for Students in Foster or Other

1-17     Residential Care.  A student is exempt from the payment of tuition

1-18     and fees authorized in this chapter if the student:

1-19                 (1)  was in foster care or other residential care under

1-20     the conservatorship of the Department of Protective and Regulatory

1-21     Services on or after:

1-22                       (A)  the day preceding the student's 18th

1-23     birthday;

1-24                       (B)  the day of the student's 14th birthday, if

1-25     the student was also eligible for adoption on or after that day; or

1-26                       (C)  the day the student graduated from high

1-27     school or received the equivalent of a high school diploma; and

1-28                 (2)  enrolls in an institution of higher education as

1-29     an undergraduate student not later:

1-30                       (A)  than the third anniversary of the date the

1-31     student was discharged from the foster or other residential care,

1-32     the date the student graduated from high school, or the date the

1-33     student received the equivalent of a high school diploma, whichever

1-34     date is earliest; or

1-35                       (B)  the student's 21st birthday.

1-36           SECTION 2.  This Act applies beginning with tuition and fees

1-37     for the 1997 fall semester.

1-38           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-39     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-40     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-41     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-42     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

1-43     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

1-44     passage, and it is so enacted.

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