1-1     By:  Lucio                                             S.B. No. 274

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed January 23, 1997; January 29, 1997,

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

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

 1-5     Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 11, Nays 0; April 1, 1997,

 1-6     sent to printer.)

 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 274                  By:  Haywood

 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-9                                   AN ACT

1-10     relating to the operation of The University of Texas at

1-11     Brownsville.

1-12           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-13           SECTION 1.  Section 78.02, Education Code, is amended to read

1-14     as follows:

1-15           Sec. 78.02.  ESTABLISHMENT; SCOPE.  (a)  The board shall

1-16     establish an [upper-level educational] institution of higher

1-17     education in the City of Brownsville, to be known as The University

1-18     of Texas at Brownsville.

1-19           (b)  Except as provided by Subsections [Subsection] (c) and

1-20     (d) [of this section], the university shall teach only junior-,

1-21     senior-, and graduate-level courses.

1-22           (c)  The university may enter into a partnership agreement

1-23     with the [Texas] Southmost Union Junior College District in the

1-24     manner authorized by Subchapter N, Chapter 51, to offer [teach] a

1-25     lower-division, occupational, or technical course that is not

1-26     offered at the university.

1-27           (d)  The university shall offer basic lower-division courses

1-28     to support bachelor of arts and bachelor of science degree

1-29     programs.  If the Southmost Union Junior College District provides

1-30     regular operational support for Texas Southmost College and the

1-31     partnership with the university authorized by Subsection (c), the

1-32     university may offer additional lower-division courses.

1-33           SECTION 2.  Section 78.04, Education Code, is amended to read

1-34     as follows:

1-35           Sec. 78.04.  FACILITIES.  The board shall make provisions for

1-36     adequate physical facilities for use by the university, on land

1-37     committed by the board of trustees of the Southmost Union Junior

1-38     College District on the district's Texas Southmost College campus,

1-39     subject to the normal requirements of the board and the Texas

1-40     Higher Education Coordinating Board.

1-41           SECTION 3.  Chapter 78, Education Code, is amended by adding

1-42     Sections 78.07 and 78.08 to read as follows:

1-43           Sec. 78.07.  LOWER-DIVISION ADMISSIONS.  The board of regents

1-44     of The University of Texas System, with the concurrence of the

1-45     board of trustees of the Southmost Union Junior College District,

1-46     shall determine the number of entering freshmen who may be enrolled

1-47     at the university each academic year.  In an academic year

1-48     preceding the 2005-2006 academic year, the number of entering

1-49     lower-division students enrolled may not exceed 900.

1-50           Sec. 78.08.  FORMULA FUNDING.  Notwithstanding Section

1-51     61.059, a formula adopted by the Texas Higher Education

1-52     Coordinating Board under that section shall provide that the

1-53     formula for upper-level general academic teaching institutions

1-54     shall be applied to upper-division semester credit hours at the

1-55     university for each state fiscal year preceding the state fiscal

1-56     year ending August 31, 2006.

1-57           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-58     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-59     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-60     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-61     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

1-62     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

1-63     passage, and it is so enacted.