By Wilson, Chavez, Kamel, Lewis of Tarrant            H.B. No. 2010

         Substitute the following for H.B. No. 2010:

         By Solis                                          C.S.H.B. No. 2010

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to restrictions on the extension of athletic scholarships

 1-3     or similar financial assistance at public institutions of higher

 1-4     education.

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

 1-6           SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 56, Education Code, is

 1-7     amended by adding Section 56.004 to read as follows:

 1-8           Sec. 56.004.  ATHLETIC SCHOLARSHIP RESTRICTIONS.  (a)  An

 1-9     institution of higher education or other entity may award a

1-10     scholarship, grant, or other financial assistance funded by state

1-11     revenue to a student on the basis of the student's status as a

1-12     student athlete only if:

1-13                 (1)  for an entering freshman student, the student's

1-14     high school grade point average is equal to or greater than the

1-15     average high school grade point average of all entering freshman

1-16     students for the academic year preceding the academic year of the

1-17     student's admission to the institution; or

1-18                 (2)  for any other student, the student's cumulative

1-19     college-level grade point average is equal to or greater than the

1-20     average cumulative college-level grade point average of all

1-21     undergraduate students enrolled at the institution in the preceding

1-22     academic year.

1-23           (b)  A scholarship, grant, or other financial assistance

1-24     awarded by the institution shall be conditioned on the student's

 2-1     compliance with Subsection (a) in each academic year the student

 2-2     receives the scholarship, grant, or other assistance.

 2-3           (c)  For the purposes of this section, "student athlete"

 2-4     means a student who competes or participates in a sport, game, or

 2-5     other competition involving substantial physical ability or skill

 2-6     for, on a team organized or sponsored by, the institution of higher

 2-7     education the student attends.

 2-8           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and

 2-9     applies only to a scholarship, grant, or other financial aid

2-10     awarded on or after that date.

2-11           (b)  A scholarship, grant, or other financial aid awarded or

2-12     promised to a person before the effective date of this Act,

2-13     including a scholarship awarded subject to future conditions the

2-14     student must fulfill, is exempt from the application of Section

2-15     56.004, Education Code, as added by this Act.

2-16           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-17     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-18     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-19     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-20     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.