1-1           By:  Ratliff                                     S.B. No. 218

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed January 16, 1997; January 21, 1997,

 1-3     read first time and referred to Committee on Finance;

 1-4     February 4, 1997, reported adversely, with favorable Committee

 1-5     Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 12, Nays 0;

 1-6     February 4, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 218                  By:  Ratliff

 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-9                                   AN ACT

1-10     relating to fees for licensure as an architect.

1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-12           SECTION 1.  Subsection (b), Section 6, Chapter 478, Acts of

1-13     the 45th Legislature, Regular Session, 1937 (Article 249a, Vernon's

1-14     Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:

1-15           (b)  Each person applying for examination shall pay to the

1-16     Board a uniform fee prescribed by the Board in an amount that is

1-17     reasonable and necessary to defray the cost of administering the

1-18     examination[, but which shall not exceed $300].  The Board shall

1-19     report to each applicant within a reasonable time after the

1-20     examination whether or not the applicant passed or failed the

1-21     examination.  An applicant who has passed the examination shall be

1-22     granted a certificate to practice architecture in this State.  The

1-23     original certificate herein provided for shall be valid for the

1-24     balance of the current registration year and must be renewed each

1-25     year thereafter in the manner and time provided by law.

1-26           SECTION 2.  In establishing fees authorized by Chapter 478,

1-27     Acts of the 45th Legislature, Regular Session, 1937 (Article 249a,

1-28     Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), the Texas Board of Architectural

1-29     Examiners is not limited to the fee rates prescribed by the General

1-30     Appropriations Act (Chapter 1063, Acts of the 74th Legislature,

1-31     1995, p. VIII-8).

1-32           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-33     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-34     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-35     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-36     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

1-37     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

1-38     passage, and it is so enacted.

1-39                                  * * * * *