By: Lucio S.B. No. 274
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
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 offer basic lower-division courses
1-19 to support bachelor of arts and bachelor of science degree
1-20 programs. If the Southmost Union Junior College District provides
1-21 regular operational support for Texas Southmost College and the
1-22 partnership with the university authorized by Subsection (c), the
1-23 university may offer additional lower-division courses.
2-1 SECTION 2. Section 78.04, Education Code, is amended to read
2-2 as follows:
2-3 Sec. 78.04. FACILITIES. The board shall make provisions for
2-4 adequate physical facilities for use by the university, on land
2-5 committed by the board of trustees of the Southmost Union Junior
2-6 College District on the district's Texas Southmost College campus,
2-7 subject to the normal requirements of the board and the Texas
2-8 Higher Education Coordinating Board.
2-9 SECTION 3. Chapter 78, Education Code, is amended by adding
2-10 Sections 78.07 and 78.08 to read as follows:
2-11 Sec. 78.07. LOWER-DIVISION ADMISSIONS. The board of regents
2-12 of The University of Texas System, with the concurrence of the
2-13 board of trustees of the Southmost Union Junior College District,
2-14 shall determine the number of entering freshmen who may be enrolled
2-15 at the university each academic year. In an academic year
2-16 preceding the 2005-2006 academic year, the number of entering
2-17 lower-division students enrolled may not exceed 900.
2-18 Sec. 78.08. FORMULA FUNDING. Notwithstanding Section
2-19 61.059, a formula adopted by the Texas Higher Education
2-20 Coordinating Board under that section shall provide that the
2-21 formula for upper-level general academic teaching institutions
2-22 shall be applied to upper-division semester credit hours at the
2-23 university for each state fiscal year preceding the state fiscal
2-24 year ending August 31, 2006.
2-25 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-1 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-2 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-3 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-4 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-5 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-6 passage, and it is so enacted.
3-7 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1
3-8 Amend S.B. No. 274, as follows:
3-9 (1) On page 1, line 18, insert "subject to the authority of
3-10 the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB)" between
3-11 "shall" and "offer".
3-12 (2) On page 2, line 16, strike "entering".
3-13 (3) On page 2, line 25, add a new Section 4 as follows and
3-14 renumber subsequent sections appropriately:
3-15 SECTION 4. Not later than May 31, 1998, the THECB shall
3-16 prepare an impact statement examining the initial implementation of
3-17 this Act and shall deliver a copy of the statement to the board, to
3-18 the board of trustees of Southmost Union Junior College District,
3-19 and to the chair of the standing committee of each house of the
3-20 legislature with primary jurisdiction over higher education.
3-21 Solis