1-1     By:  Kamel, Glaze (Senate Sponsor - Ratliff)          H.B. No. 1795

 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House May 5, 1997;

 1-3     May 6, 1997, read first time and referred to Committee on Finance;

 1-4     May 9, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 11,

 1-5     Nays 0; May 9, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to The University of Texas at Tyler.

 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-10           SECTION 1.  Section 76.02, Education Code, is amended to read

1-11     as follows:

1-12           Sec. 76.02.  ROLE AND SCOPE.  (a)  The [Except as otherwise

1-13     provided in this section, the] institution shall offer [junior and

1-14     senior] undergraduate programs and graduate programs, both of which

1-15     are subject to the authority of the Texas Higher Education

1-16     Coordinating Board[, Texas College and University System].

1-17           (b)  The institution may not offer a lower division course

1-18     off the campus of the institution until the fall semester of 2001.

1-19           (c)  If the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board

1-20     approves an engineering degree program at the institution, the

1-21     institution may offer lower division courses relating to that

1-22     program [if such courses are offered as part of a partnership

1-23     agreement entered into under Subchapter N, Chapter 51 of this

1-24     code].  The enrollment limits provided by Section 76.026 do not

1-25     apply to that program.

1-26           SECTION 2.  Chapter 76, Education Code, is amended by adding

1-27     Sections 76.025 and 76.026 to read as follows:

1-28           Sec. 76.025.  UNIVERSITY ADMISSIONS.  (a)  The institution

1-29     may not adopt or use an open enrollment policy.

1-30           (b)  The board shall adopt admission standards for the

1-31     institution for first-time freshman students that are at least as

1-32     stringent as the 1997 fall semester admission standards for

1-33     first-time freshman students at The University of Texas at

1-34     Arlington.

1-35           (c)  The board must comply with Subsection (b) not later than

1-36     January 1, 2000.  This subsection expires January 1, 2001.

1-37           Sec. 76.026.  ENROLLMENT LIMITS.  (a)  The maximum number of

1-38     full-time equivalent freshman and sophomore students who may be

1-39     enrolled at The University of Texas at Tyler is:

1-40                 (1)  50 for the 1998 summer session and 1998-1999

1-41     academic year;

1-42                 (2)  100 for the 1999 summer session and 1999-2000

1-43     academic year;

1-44                 (3)  150 for the 2000 summer session and 2000-2001

1-45     academic year; and

1-46                 (4)  200 for the 2001 summer session and 2001-2002

1-47     academic year.

1-48           (b)  The institution may not admit a student as a freshman

1-49     before the 1998 summer session.

1-50           (c)  This section expires January 1, 2003.

1-51           SECTION 3.  Section 76.07, Education Code, is amended to read

1-52     as follows:

1-53           Sec. 76.07. PARTNERSHIPS WITH JUNIOR COLLEGES AND OTHER

1-54     INSTITUTIONS.  (a) The institution shall seek to build and expand

1-55     partnership agreements in the same manner as authorized by

1-56     Subchapter N, Chapter 51 [of this code].  With the approval of the

1-57     Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the institution may

1-58     enter into a partnership agreement with a private institution of

1-59     higher education located in the same county as any campus of the

1-60     institution, subject to the same provisions as provided by

1-61     Subchapter N, Chapter 51, for a partnership agreement between an

1-62     [the] institution covered by that section and a public junior

1-63     college.

1-64           (b)  In developing programs and courses subject to a

 2-1     partnership agreement, the institution and any other party to an

 2-2     agreement shall take into account the need in the service region to

 2-3     recruit minority and lower-income students into degree-granting

 2-4     programs of institutions of higher education.

 2-5           (c)  [In deciding whether the institution may offer any lower

 2-6     division courses pursuant to Section 76.02 of this code, the

 2-7     institution and any other party to a partnership agreement shall

 2-8     take into account, in addition to any other relevant factors, the

 2-9     cost-effectiveness and other impact such courses will have on

2-10     students likely to enroll in the courses as well as any impact such

2-11     courses will have on the community as a whole.]

2-12           [(d)  If the institution offers lower division courses, the

2-13     Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall adopt a formula

2-14     pursuant to its duties and powers under this code that applies the

2-15     formula for four-year general academic teaching institutions to all

2-16     lower division semester credit hours offered at the institution in

2-17     addition to any other formula funding that the institution might be

2-18     entitled to receive for upper division credit hours that it offers.]

2-19           [(e)]  A nonresident student who is simultaneously enrolled

2-20     in the institution and another public institution of higher

2-21     education under a program offered jointly by the two institutions

2-22     under a partnership agreement and who pays the fees and charges

2-23     required of Texas residents at one of the institutions as provided

2-24     by Section 54.064 because the student holds a competitive

2-25     scholarship is entitled to pay the fees and charges required of

2-26     Texas residents at each public institution of higher education in

2-27     which the student is simultaneously enrolled under the program.

2-28           (d) [(f)]  The institution and other parties to a partnership

2-29     agreement may contract with any person to provide shuttle bus

2-30     service or other transportation service for or among the campuses

2-31     of the institutions that are parties to the agreement and may

2-32     charge and collect a fee from students registered in courses at the

2-33     campuses of two or more of the institutions in the same semester or

2-34     term in an amount determined by the institutions to pay for all or

2-35     part of the costs of that service.

2-36           SECTION 4.  Not later than December 31, 1998, the Texas

2-37     Higher Education Coordinating Board shall prepare an impact

2-38     statement examining the initial implementation of this Act and

2-39     shall deliver a copy of the statement to the board of regents of

2-40     The University of Texas System, to the board of trustees of Tyler

2-41     Junior College District, and to the chair of the standing committee

2-42     of each house of the legislature with primary jurisdiction over

2-43     higher education.

2-44           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-45     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-46     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-47     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-48     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-49     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-50     passage, and it is so enacted.

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