By Goolsby                                       H.B. No. 858

      75R1550 JSA-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to providing for open enrollment for a portion of those

 1-3     persons admitted as undergraduates at certain public institutions

 1-4     of higher education.

 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-6           SECTION 1.  Chapter 51, Education Code, is amended by adding

 1-7     Subchapter S to read as follows:

 1-8                          SUBCHAPTER S.  ADMISSIONS

 1-9           Sec. 51.761.  DEFINITIONS.  The definitions provided by

1-10     Section 61.003 apply to this subchapter.

1-11           Sec. 51.762.  OPEN ENROLLMENT FOR UNDERGRADUATES.  (a) Each

1-12     general academic teaching institution shall admit a portion of the

1-13     undergraduate students admitted to the institution in each academic

1-14     year through open enrollment as provided by this section.

1-15           (b)  The portion of the undergraduates admitted each academic

1-16     year that must be admitted to an institution through open

1-17     enrollment is determined as follows:

1-18                 (1)  for an institution with a total enrollment for the

1-19     preceding academic year of 30,000 or more, one percent of the

1-20     undergraduates admitted must be admitted through open enrollment;

1-21                 (2)  for an institution with a total enrollment for the

1-22     preceding academic year of 10,000 or more but less than 30,000, two

1-23     percent of the undergraduates admitted must be admitted through

1-24     open enrollment; and

 2-1                 (3)  for an institution with a total enrollment for the

 2-2     preceding academic year of less than 10,000, two percent of the

 2-3     undergraduates admitted must be admitted through open enrollment.

 2-4           (c)  The students admitted through open enrollment are chosen

 2-5     by lot from among the total pool of applicants eligible for

 2-6     admission to the institution.

 2-7           (d)  If the number of undergraduate students admitted through

 2-8     open enrollment in an academic year to an institution covered by

 2-9     this section is less than the required percentage, the institution

2-10     shall:

2-11                 (1)  admit a number of undergraduate students in the

2-12     next academic year through open enrollment, in addition to the

2-13     percentage required by Subsection (b), equal to the difference

2-14     between the number of students that was required to be admitted

2-15     through open enrollment and the number actually admitted through

2-16     open enrollment; and

2-17                 (2)  file a written report before the end of the

2-18     academic year with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board

2-19     explaining why the number of students admitted was less than that

2-20     required by this section.

2-21           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and

2-22     applies to admissions for academic years beginning with the

2-23     academic year that begins in the fall 1998 semester.

2-24           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-25     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-26     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-27     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 3-1     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.