By Turner of Harris                             H.B. No. 1548

      75R2240 JSA-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to fees for certain students registered in a public junior

 1-3     college.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 54.051(n), Education Code, is amended to

 1-6     read as follows:

 1-7           (n)  Tuition for a resident student registered in a public

 1-8     junior college is determined by the governing board of each

 1-9     institution, but the tuition may not be less than $8 for each

1-10     semester credit hour and may not total less than $25 for a

1-11     semester.  Tuition for a nonresident student is determined by the

1-12     governing board of each institution but the tuition may not be less

1-13     than $200 for each semester.  The governing board of a public

1-14     junior college may charge registration fees in addition to tuition

1-15     for students who reside outside the junior college district and may

1-16     set different registration fees for specified categories of those

1-17     students as the board considers appropriate.

1-18           SECTION 2.  This Act applies beginning with fees charged for

1-19     the fall semester of 1997.

1-20           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-21     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-22     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-23     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-24     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

 2-1     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

 2-2     passage, and it is so enacted.