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. 1-45 * * * * *