By Berlanga                                           H.B. No. 3271

         Line and page numbers may not match official copy.

         Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to student center complex fees for educational

 1-3     institutions within The Texas A & M University System.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 54.521, Education Code is amended as

 1-6     follows:  Section 54.521. Student Center Complex Fees; Texas A&M

 1-7     University System.

 1-8           (a)  The board of regents of The Texas A&M University System

 1-9     may levy a regular, fixed student fee on each student enrolled in

1-10     an educational institution within The Texas A&M University System

1-11     for the purpose of producing revenue for operating, maintaining,

1-12     improving, and equipping the institution's student center complex

1-13     and acquiring or constructing additions to the complex.  The board

1-14     may set fees in amounts it considers just and necessary but not to

1-15     exceed $40 [$30] per student for each semester for the long session

1-16     and not to exceed $20 [$15] per student for each term of the summer

1-17     session, or any fractional part of a session.  The activities of

1-18     the student center complex that may be financed in whole or in part

1-19     by the student center complex fee are limited to those activities

1-20     in which the entire student body is eligible to participate.  The

1-21     financed activities may not be held outside the territorial limits

1-22     of any educational institution within The Texas A & M University

 2-1     System.

 2-2           (b)  The comptroller of each institution shall collect the

 2-3     fees levied under Subsection (a) of this section and shall credit

 2-4     the money received from the fees to an account known as the student

 2-5     center complex fee account.

 2-6           (c)  The money collected and placed in the student center

 2-7     complex fee account may be used only for the purposes provided by

 2-8     Subsection (a) of this section.  A complete and itemized budget

 2-9     shall be submitted to the board annually and must be accompanied by

2-10     a full and complete report of all activities conducted during the

2-11     past year and all expenditures made incident to the activities.

2-12     The board shall make changes in the budget it considers necessary

2-13     before approving the budget, and shall then levy the fees in

2-14     amounts sufficient to meet the budgetary needs of the center,

2-15     within the limits fixed by this section.

2-16           (d)  The decision to levy a student center complex fee, the

2-17     amount of the initial fee, and an increase in the fee must be

2-18     approved by a majority vote of those students participating in a

2-19     general election called for that purpose.

2-20           SECTION 2.  Section 54.523, Education Code, as amended by

2-21     this act, applies only to student center complex fees at

2-22     institutions within The Texas A & M University System beginning

2-23     with the fall semester of 1997.  Student center complex fees that

2-24     became due before that semester are governed by the law in effect

2-25     at the time those fees became due, and that law is continued in

2-26     effect for this purpose only.

2-27           SECTION 3.  Section 54.516, Education Code is repealed.

 3-1           SECTION 4.  EMERGENCY.  The importance of this legislation

 3-2     and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 3-3     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 3-4     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 3-5     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.