By Delisi                                       H.B. No. 1461

      75R1595 CAG-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the payment of resident tuition and fees at state

 1-3     institutions of higher education by children and spouses of certain

 1-4     military personnel.

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

 1-6           SECTION 1.  Section 54.058, Education Code, is amended by

 1-7     adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:

 1-8           (d)  A spouse or child of a member of the Armed Forces of the

 1-9     United States is entitled to pay the tuition fees and other fees or

1-10     charges provided for Texas residents for a term or semester at a

1-11     state institution of higher education if the member:

1-12                 (1)  at least one year preceding the first day of the

1-13     term or semester executed a document with the applicable military

1-14     service  that is in effect on the first day of the term or semester

1-15     and that:

1-16                       (A)  indicates that the member's permanent

1-17     residence address is in Texas; and

1-18                       (B)  designates Texas as the member's place of

1-19     legal residence for income tax purposes;

1-20                 (2)  has been registered to vote in Texas for the year

1-21     preceding the first day of the term or semester; and

1-22                 (3)  satisfies at least one of the following

1-23     requirements:

1-24                       (A)  for the year preceding the first day of the

 2-1     term or semester has owned real property in Texas and in that time

 2-2     has not been delinquent in the payment of any taxes on the

 2-3     property;

 2-4                       (B)  has had an automobile registered in Texas

 2-5     for the year preceding the first day of the term or semester; or

 2-6                       (C)  at least one year preceding the first day of

 2-7     the term or semester executed a will that has not been revoked or

 2-8     superseded indicating that the member is a  resident of this state

 2-9     and deposited the  will with the county clerk of the county of the

2-10     member's residence under Section 71, Texas Probate Code.

2-11           SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies

2-12     beginning with the fall term or semester in 1997.

2-13           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-14     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-15     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-16     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-17     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-18     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-19     passage, and it is so enacted.