By:  Ratliff                                  S.B. No. 218

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

                                       AN ACT

 1-1     relating to fees for licensure as an architect.

 1-2           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-3           SECTION 1.  Subsection (b), Section 6, Chapter 478, Acts of

 1-4     the 45th Legislature, Regular Session, 1937 (Article 249a, Vernon's

 1-5     Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:

 1-6           (b)  Each person applying for examination shall pay to the

 1-7     Board a uniform fee prescribed by the Board in an amount that is

 1-8     reasonable and necessary to defray the cost of administering the

 1-9     examination[, but which shall not exceed $300].  The Board shall

1-10     report to each applicant within a reasonable time after the

1-11     examination whether or not the applicant passed or failed the

1-12     examination.  An applicant who has passed the examination shall be

1-13     granted a certificate to practice architecture in this State.  The

1-14     original certificate herein provided for shall be valid for the

1-15     balance of the current registration year and must be renewed each

1-16     year thereafter in the manner and time provided by law.

1-17           SECTION 2.  In establishing fees authorized by Chapter 478,

1-18     Acts of the 45th Legislature, Regular Session, 1937 (Article 249a,

1-19     Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), the Texas Board of Architectural

1-20     Examiners is not limited to the fee rates prescribed by the General

1-21     Appropriations Act (Chapter 1063, Acts of the 74th Legislature,

1-22     1995, p. VIII-8).

1-23           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

 2-1     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-2     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-3     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 2-4     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

 2-5     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

 2-6     passage, and it is so enacted.