By Barrientos                                    S.B. No. 171

      75R1593 CAG-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the establishment of the Texas Opportunity Scholarship

 1-3     to exempt high-performing high school graduates from tuition and

 1-4     fees at public institutions of higher education.

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

 1-6           SECTION 1.  Subchapter D, Chapter 54, Education Code, is

 1-7     amended by adding Section 54.202 to read as follows:

 1-8           Sec. 54.202.  TEXAS OPPORTUNITY SCHOLARSHIP.  (a) The

 1-9     governing board of each institution of higher education shall issue

1-10     scholarships each year to each qualified high school graduate

1-11     enrolled at the institution who graduated after December 1, 1997,

1-12     from a public high school in this state with a grade point average

1-13     in the top 10 percent of the graduate's high school graduating

1-14     class, exempting the graduate from the payment of tuition and fees

1-15     during the graduate's  undergraduate enrollment at the institution.

1-16           (b)  The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall

1-17     adopt rules as necessary for the administration of this section,

1-18     including rules relating to the establishment of the scholarships

1-19     and the determination of eligible students.

1-20           (c)  The governing board of an institution may accept gifts,

1-21     grants, or donations from any person for the purposes of this

1-22     section.

1-23           SECTION 2.  (a) This Act applies beginning with the fall term

1-24     or semester of an institution of higher education in 1998.

 2-1           (b)  The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall

 2-2     adopt rules relating to the operation of Section 54.202, Education

 2-3     Code, as added by this Act, not later than January 1, 1998.

 2-4           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

 2-5     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-6     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-7     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 2-8     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.