By Reyna of Dallas                              H.B. No. 2478

      75R5535 JSA-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to state funding of certain public institutions of higher

 1-3     education.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 96.704, Education Code, is amended by

 1-6     adding Subsections (f) and (g) to read as follows:

 1-7           (f)  Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, the

 1-8     amount of state general revenue appropriated to Lamar University at

 1-9     Port Arthur or Lamar University at Orange in a state fiscal year

1-10     may not exceed the amount determined by applying the amounts

1-11     allocated under Section 130.003 per contact hour for that fiscal

1-12     year to the contact hours within the same categories at Lamar

1-13     University at Port Arthur or Lamar University at Orange, as

1-14     applicable.  The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall

1-15     calculate the maximum amount of general revenue  appropriations for

1-16     each of those institutions for each fiscal year at the time the

1-17     coordinating board makes the allocations required by Section

1-18     130.003.  The board may increase tuition for resident students at

1-19     Lamar University at Port Arthur or Lamar University at Orange as

1-20     necessary to make up for all or  part of the difference between the

1-21     amount of revenue the institution receives under this subsection

1-22     and the amount the institution would receive under the formulas

1-23     adopted under Section 61.059.  The coordinating board shall certify

1-24     an estimate of that amount to the board for each fiscal year not

 2-1     later than the June 1 immediately preceding the fiscal year.

 2-2           (g)  Notwithstanding Subsection (f), the maximum amount that

 2-3     may be appropriated to an institution covered by Subsection (f) for

 2-4     each of the following state fiscal years is the sum of the amount

 2-5     provided by Subsection (f) for that year plus an additional amount

 2-6     calculated by multiplying the specified percentage for the fiscal

 2-7     year by the amount of the difference between the amount provided by

 2-8     Subsection (f) and the amount the institution would receive in the

 2-9     fiscal year under the formulas adopted under Section 61.059. The

2-10     applicable percentages for purposes of this subsection are:

2-11                 (1)  80 percent for the fiscal year ending September 1,

2-12     2000;

2-13                 (2) 60 percent for the fiscal year ending September 1,

2-14     2001;

2-15                 (3)  40 percent for the fiscal year ending September 1,

2-16     2002; and

2-17                 (4)  20 percent for the fiscal year ending September 1,

2-18     2003.

2-19           SECTION 2.  This Act applies beginning with appropriations to

2-20     Lamar University at Port  Arthur or Lamar University at Orange for

2-21     the state fiscal year ending September 1, 2000, and to tuition

2-22     charged at those institutions beginning with the 1999-2000 academic

2-23     year.

2-24           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-25     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-26     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-27     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 3-1     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.