By Kamel H.B. No. 1218
75R1990 CAG-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the student fee advisory committee at The University of
1-3 Texas at Austin.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 54.5031(a), Education Code, is amended to
1-6 read as follows:
1-7 (a) A student fee advisory committee is established at each
1-8 institution of higher education [except The University of Texas at
1-9 Austin] to advise the governing board and administration of the
1-10 institution on the type, amount, and expenditure of compulsory fees
1-11 for student services under Section 54.503 of this code.
1-12 SECTION 2. Sections 54.513(b) and (f), Education Code, are
1-13 amended to read as follows:
1-14 (b) Subject to Section 54.5031 [54.514] of this subchapter
1-15 and subsections (j) and (k) of this section, the board of regents
1-16 of The University of Texas System may charge and collect from
1-17 students registered at The University of Texas at Austin fees to
1-18 cover the cost of student services that the board considers
1-19 necessary or desirable in carrying out the educational functions of
1-20 the university.
1-21 (f) Money collected as fees for student services shall be:
1-22 (1) reserved and accounted for in an account kept
1-23 separate from educational and general funds of the university;
1-24 (2) used only for the support of student services;
2-1 (3) used only after the compulsory fees to be included
2-2 in the student service fees budget have been considered as provided
2-3 by Section 54.5031 [54.514] of this subchapter; and
2-4 (4) placed in a depository bank designated by the
2-5 board and secured as provided by law.
2-6 SECTION 3. Section 54.514, Education Code, is amended to
2-7 read as follows:
2-8 Sec. 54.514. PARKING AND TRAFFIC POLICIES [STUDENT FEES
2-9 ADVISORY] COMMITTEE; THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN. [(a)] The
2-10 [student fees advisory committee is established to advise the
2-11 administration of The University of Texas at Austin on the type,
2-12 level, and expenditure of compulsory fees for student services
2-13 collected at the university under Section 54.513 of this
2-14 subchapter. The administration may also ask the student fees
2-15 advisory committee to advise the administration of the university
2-16 on the type, level, and expenditure of voluntary fees for student
2-17 services collected at the university under Section 54.513 of this
2-18 subchapter. The committee is composed of nine members.]
2-19 [(b) Five of the members of the student fees advisory
2-20 committee must be student members. The student members must be
2-21 students who are enrolled in not less than six semester hours at
2-22 the university and who are generally representative of the student
2-23 body. If a student government exists, the student members shall be
2-24 selected by the student government of the university. The student
2-25 members shall be selected and designated as appropriate so that
2-26 three student members on the committee are serving terms of two
2-27 years, and two student members are serving terms of one year. If a
3-1 student government does not exist, the students shall be elected by
3-2 the students enrolled in the university voting in an election held
3-3 for that purpose. At each election, the appropriate number of
3-4 students shall be elected for terms of appropriate length so that
3-5 three student members on the committee are serving terms of two
3-6 years, and two student members are serving terms of one year. At
3-7 an election at which three students are being elected for terms of
3-8 two years and two students are being elected for terms of one year,
3-9 each candidate must file for a one-year or two-year position.]
3-10 [(c) The four remaining members of the student fees advisory
3-11 committee shall be appointed by the president of the university and
3-12 shall be generally representative of the total university
3-13 community. Each nonstudent member of the committee serves for a
3-14 term of one year but may be reappointed.]
3-15 [(d) A student member who ceases to be a student may not
3-16 continue to hold a student membership position. If a student
3-17 vacancy occurs, the student government shall appoint a new member
3-18 to serve for the remainder of the unexpired term. In the absence
3-19 of student government or if the vacancy is in a nonstudent
3-20 position, the president of the university shall appoint a new
3-21 member to serve for the remainder of the unexpired term.]
3-22 [(e) The committee shall conduct appropriate inquiry into
3-23 the type, level, and expenditure of any compulsory fees to be
3-24 charged under Section 54.513 of this subchapter and on the
3-25 expenditure of money generated from those fees. Following the
3-26 committee's inquiries, the committee and the appropriate members of
3-27 the university administration shall meet, and at the meeting the
4-1 committee shall submit to the administration a statement
4-2 recommending the type, level, and expenditure of compulsory fees to
4-3 be charged to students in the academic year beginning with the
4-4 following fall semester.]
4-5 [(f) The president shall duly consider the recommendations
4-6 of the student fees advisory committee in his recommendations to
4-7 the board of regents of The University of Texas System which
4-8 recommendations shall be submitted to the board during the annual
4-9 budgetary process. If the president's recommendations to be made
4-10 to the board are substantially different from those of the student
4-11 fees advisory committee to the administration, the administration
4-12 shall so notify the student fees advisory committee in sufficient
4-13 time for the committee to request time for an appearance on the
4-14 regents' agenda for the meeting at which the board will consider
4-15 the president's recommendations. The administration shall provide
4-16 to a student member designated by the student members of the
4-17 committee, upon that student member's request, the most recent and
4-18 complete recommendations of the president to the board.]
4-19 [(g) In addition to selecting the student members of the
4-20 student fees advisory committee, the] student government of The
4-21 University of Texas at Austin, if one exists, is entitled to select
4-22 the student members of the university parking and traffic policies
4-23 committee established by the president of the university. The
4-24 university parking and traffic policies committee shall provide
4-25 copies of any recommendations it makes concerning the setting of
4-26 student parking fees to the student fee [fees] advisory committee.
4-27 The student fee [fees] advisory committee may make such comments
5-1 and recommendations to the administration on the recommendations of
5-2 the university parking and traffic policies committee as it may
5-3 wish.
5-4 SECTION 4. This Act applies to vacancies that occur on the
5-5 student fee advisory committee at The University of Texas at Austin
5-6 beginning with the election or appointment of members to each
5-7 vacancy that occurs after January 1, 1998. A member of the student
5-8 fees advisory committee at The University of Texas at Austin
5-9 serving on January 1, 1998, may continue to serve as a member of
5-10 the student fee advisory committee under Section 54.5031, Education
5-11 Code, as amended by this Act, until the end of the member's term,
5-12 if the member is a student member, or until removed or replaced, if
5-13 the member is appointed by the president of the university.
5-14 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
5-15 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-16 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-17 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-18 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.