1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to tuition and fees for certain students registered in a

 1-3     public junior college.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 130.003(b), Education Code, is amended to

 1-6     read as follows:

 1-7           (b)  To be eligible for and to receive a proportionate share

 1-8     of the appropriation, a public junior college must:

 1-9                 (1)  be certified as a public junior college as

1-10     prescribed in Section 61.063 of this code;

1-11                 (2)  offer a minimum of 24 semester hours of vocational

1-12     and/or terminal courses;

1-13                 (3)  have complied with all existing laws, rules, and

1-14     regulations governing the establishment and maintenance of public

1-15     junior colleges;

1-16                 (4)  collect, from each full-time and part-time student

1-17     enrolled, matriculation and other session fees in the amounts

1-18     required by law [Section 54.051 of this code, except, however, the

1-19     governing board of a public junior college district may waive the

1-20     difference in the rate of tuition for nonresident and resident

1-21     students for a person, and his dependents, who owns property which

1-22     is subject to ad valorem taxation by the junior college district];

1-23                 (5)  grant, when properly applied for, the scholarships

1-24     and tuition exemptions provided for in this code; and

 2-1                 (6)  for a public junior college established on or

 2-2     after September 1, 1986, levy and collect ad valorem taxes as

 2-3     provided by law for the operation and maintenance of the public

 2-4     junior college.

 2-5           SECTION 2.  Subchapter A, Chapter 130, Education Code, is

 2-6     amended by adding Section 130.0032 to read as follows:

 2-7           Sec. 130.0032.  TUITION FOR STUDENTS RESIDING OUTSIDE OF

 2-8     DISTRICT.  (a)  The governing board of a public junior college

 2-9     district may allow a person who resides outside the district and

2-10     who owns property subject to ad valorem taxation by the district,

2-11     or a dependent of the person, to pay tuition at the rate applicable

2-12     to a student who resides in the district.

2-13           (b)  The governing board of a public junior college district

2-14     may allow a person who resides outside the district and in the

2-15     taxing district of a contiguous public junior college district to

2-16     pay tuition and fees at the rate applicable to a student who

2-17     resides in the district.

2-18           (c)  The governing board of a public junior college district

2-19     may allow a person who resides outside the district to pay tuition

2-20     and fees at a rate less than the rate applicable to other persons

2-21     residing outside the district, but not less than the rate

2-22     applicable to a student who resides in the district, if the person:

2-23                 (1)  resides within the service area of the district;

2-24                 (2)  does not reside in an independent school district

2-25     that meets the criteria of the coordinating board for the

2-26     establishment of a junior college district under Section 130.013;

2-27     and

 3-1                 (3)  demonstrates financial need in accordance with

 3-2     rules adopted by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

 3-3           SECTION 3.  This Act applies beginning with tuition and fees

 3-4     charged for the 1997 fall semester.

 3-5           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

 3-6     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 3-7     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 3-8     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 3-9     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

3-10     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

3-11     passage, and it is so enacted.

         _______________________________     _______________________________

             President of the Senate              Speaker of the House

               I certify that H.B. No. 1548 was passed by the House on April

         22, 1997, by the following vote:  Yeas 140, Nays 0, 2 present, not

         voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.

         No. 1548 on May 28, 1997, by the following vote:  Yeas 135, Nays 0,

         1 present, not voting.

                                             _______________________________

                                                 Chief Clerk of the House

               I certify that H.B. No. 1548 was passed by the Senate, with

         amendments, on May 20, 1997, by the following vote:  Yeas 31, Nays

         0.

                                             _______________________________

                                                 Secretary of the Senate

         APPROVED:  _____________________

                            Date

                    _____________________

                          Governor