1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to studying minority participation in public higher
1-3 education.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 61, Education Code, is
1-6 amended by adding Section 61.080 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 61.080. CONTINUING STUDY OF MINORITY PARTICIPATION IN
1-8 HIGHER EDUCATION. (a) The board shall collect data and maintain a
1-9 database relating to the participation of members of racial and
1-10 ethnic minority groups in this state in public higher education,
1-11 including data relating to minority applications, recruitment,
1-12 admissions, retention, graduation, and professional licensing at
1-13 both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
1-14 (b) The board shall maintain a continuous study of the data
1-15 collected under Subsection (a) and of factors affecting that data.
1-16 (c) In order to avoid duplication with any other study by
1-17 the office of the comptroller, the board shall, through a
1-18 memorandum of understanding, work in conjunction with the
1-19 comptroller in conducting the study.
1-20 SECTION 2. (a) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating
1-21 Board shall institute and coordinate a study of the effects of
1-22 recent actions on the rates at which members of racial and ethnic
1-23 minority groups in this state apply for or are admitted to public
1-24 institutions of higher education in this state.
2-1 (b) The study shall consider any factors the coordinating
2-2 board can identify that may have affected or be affecting those
2-3 application and admission rates, including:
2-4 (1) recent legal developments, including the 1996
2-5 decision of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in Hopwood v.
2-6 State;
2-7 (2) recent changes in application or student
2-8 recruiting procedures by public institutions of higher education;
2-9 and
2-10 (3) recent changes in admissions standards or
2-11 practices at public institutions of higher education.
2-12 (c) The study shall include recommendations for legislative
2-13 or administrative actions that may be taken to encourage or achieve
2-14 greater participation by members of racial and ethnic minority
2-15 groups in higher education in this state.
2-16 (d) In conducting the study, the coordinating board may
2-17 appoint advisory or other committees to assist in planning,
2-18 conducting, or analyzing the study. A committee may include any
2-19 educators, experts, or other persons willing to serve. The
2-20 coordinating board may request the assistance of any state agency,
2-21 office, department, or institution. Each public institution of
2-22 higher education shall cooperate with the board in conducting the
2-23 study.
2-24 (e) The coordinating board shall report its activities and
2-25 the findings of the study to the governor, the lieutenant governor,
2-26 and the speaker of the house of representatives not later than
2-27 December 1, 1998.
3-1 (f) This section expires January 1, 1999.
3-2 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-3 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-4 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-5 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-6 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-7 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-8 passage, and it is so enacted.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2146 was passed by the House on April
18, 1997, by a non-record vote; and that the House concurred in
Senate amendments to H.B. No. 2146 on May 23, 1997, by the
following vote: Yeas 121, Nays 17, 2 present, not voting.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2146 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 21, 1997, by the following vote: Yeas 29, Nays
1.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor