AN ACT
1-1 relating to the payment of resident tuition and fees at state
1-2 institutions of higher education by children and spouses of certain
1-3 military personnel and by certain former military personnel and
1-4 their children and spouses.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 54.058, Education Code, is amended by
1-7 adding Subsections (d) and (i) to read as follows:
1-8 (d) A spouse or dependent child of a member of the Armed
1-9 Forces of the United States, who is not assigned to duty in Texas
1-10 but who has previously resided in Texas for a 12-month period, is
1-11 entitled to pay the tuition fees and other fees or charges provided
1-12 for Texas residents for a term or semester at a state institution
1-13 of higher education if the member:
1-14 (1) at least one year preceding the first day of the
1-15 term or semester executed a document with the applicable military
1-16 service that is in effect on the first day of the term or semester
1-17 and that:
1-18 (A) indicates that the member's permanent
1-19 residence address is in Texas; and
1-20 (B) designates Texas as the member's place of
1-21 legal residence for income tax purposes;
1-22 (2) has been registered to vote in Texas for the
1-23 entire year preceding the first day of the term or semester; and
2-1 (3) satisfies at least one of the following
2-2 requirements:
2-3 (A) for the entire year preceding the first day
2-4 of the term or semester has owned real property in Texas and in
2-5 that time has not been delinquent in the payment of any taxes on
2-6 the property;
2-7 (B) has had an automobile registered in Texas
2-8 for the entire year preceding the first day of the term or
2-9 semester; or
2-10 (C) at least one year preceding the first day of
2-11 the term or semester executed a will that has not been revoked or
2-12 superseded indicating that the member is a resident of this state
2-13 and deposited the will with the county clerk of the county of the
2-14 member's residence under Section 71, Texas Probate Code.
2-15 (i) A former member of the Armed Forces of the United States
2-16 or the former member's spouse or dependent child is entitled to pay
2-17 the tuition fees and other fees or charges provided for Texas
2-18 residents for any term or semester at a state institution of higher
2-19 education that begins before the first anniversary of the member's
2-20 separation from the Armed Forces if the former member:
2-21 (1) has retired or been honorably discharged from the
2-22 Armed Forces; and
2-23 (2) has complied with the requirements of Subsection
2-24 (d).
2-25 SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies
3-1 beginning with the fall term or semester in 1997.
3-2 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-3 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-4 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-5 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-6 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-7 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-8 passage, and it is so enacted.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 474 passed the Senate on
March 3, 1997, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 474 passed the House on
May 26, 1997, by the following vote: Yeas 142, Nays 0, two present
not voting.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
_______________________________
Date
_______________________________
Governor