AN ACT
1-1 relating to the operation of The University of Texas at
1-2 Brownsville.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 78.02, Education Code, is amended to read
1-5 as follows:
1-6 Sec. 78.02. ESTABLISHMENT; SCOPE. (a) The board shall
1-7 establish an [upper-level educational] institution of higher
1-8 education in the City of Brownsville, to be known as The University
1-9 of Texas at Brownsville.
1-10 (b) Except as provided by Subsections [Subsection] (c) and
1-11 (d) [of this section], the university shall teach only junior-,
1-12 senior-, and graduate-level courses.
1-13 (c) The university may enter into a partnership agreement
1-14 with the [Texas] Southmost Union Junior College District in the
1-15 manner authorized by Subchapter N, Chapter 51, to offer [teach] a
1-16 lower-division, occupational, or technical course that is not
1-17 offered at the university.
1-18 (d) The university shall, subject to the authority of the
1-19 Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, offer basic
1-20 lower-division courses to support bachelor of arts and bachelor of
1-21 science degree programs. If the Southmost Union Junior College
1-22 District provides regular operational support for Texas Southmost
1-23 College and the partnership with the university authorized by
2-1 Subsection (c), the university may offer additional lower-division
2-2 courses.
2-3 SECTION 2. Section 78.04, Education Code, is amended to read
2-4 as follows:
2-5 Sec. 78.04. FACILITIES. The board shall make provisions for
2-6 adequate physical facilities for use by the university, on land
2-7 committed by the board of trustees of the Southmost Union Junior
2-8 College District on the district's Texas Southmost College campus,
2-9 subject to the normal requirements of the board and the Texas
2-10 Higher Education Coordinating Board.
2-11 SECTION 3. Chapter 78, Education Code, is amended by adding
2-12 Sections 78.07 and 78.08 to read as follows:
2-13 Sec. 78.07. LOWER-DIVISION ADMISSIONS. The board, with the
2-14 concurrence of the board of trustees of the Southmost Union Junior
2-15 College District, shall determine the number of entering freshmen
2-16 who may be enrolled at the university each academic year. In an
2-17 academic year preceding the 2005-2006 academic year, the number of
2-18 lower-division students enrolled may not exceed 900.
2-19 Sec. 78.08. FORMULA FUNDING. Notwithstanding Section
2-20 61.059, a formula adopted by the Texas Higher Education
2-21 Coordinating Board under that section shall provide that the
2-22 formula for upper-level general academic teaching institutions
2-23 shall be applied to upper-division semester credit hours at the
2-24 university for each state fiscal year preceding the state fiscal
2-25 year ending August 31, 2006.
3-1 SECTION 4. Not later than May 31, 1998, the Texas Higher
3-2 Education Coordinating Board shall prepare an impact statement
3-3 examining the initial implementation of this Act and shall deliver
3-4 a copy of the statement to the board of regents of The University
3-5 of Texas System, to the board of trustees of the Southmost Union
3-6 Junior College District, and to the chair of the standing committee
3-7 of each house of the legislature with primary jurisdiction over
3-8 higher education.
3-9 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
3-10 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-11 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-12 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-13 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-14 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-15 passage, and it is so enacted.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 274 passed the Senate on
April 7, 1997, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0; and that
the Senate concurred in House amendment on May 24, 1997, by the
following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 274 passed the House, with
amendment, on May 22, 1997, by the following vote: Yeas 123,
Nays 14, two present not voting.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
_______________________________
Date
_______________________________
Governor