1-1           By:  Ogden                                       S.B. No. 474

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed February 6, 1997; February 11, 1997,

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

 1-4     February 25, 1997, reported adversely, with favorable Committee

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

 1-6     February 25, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 474                   By:  Sibley

 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-9                                   AN ACT

1-10     relating to the payment of resident tuition and fees at state

1-11     institutions of higher education by children and spouses of certain

1-12     military personnel and by certain former military personnel and

1-13     their children and spouses.

1-14           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-15           SECTION 1.  Section 54.058, Education Code, is amended by

1-16     adding Subsections (d) and (i) to read as follows:

1-17           (d)  A spouse or child of a member of the Armed Forces of the

1-18     United States is entitled to pay the tuition fees and other fees or

1-19     charges provided for Texas residents for a term or semester at a

1-20     state institution of higher education if the member:

1-21                 (1)  at least one year preceding the first day of the

1-22     term or semester executed a document with the applicable military

1-23     service that is in effect on the first day of the term or semester

1-24     and that:

1-25                       (A)  indicates that the member's permanent

1-26     residence address is in Texas; and

1-27                       (B)  designates Texas as the member's place of

1-28     legal residence for income tax purposes;

1-29                 (2)  has been registered to vote in Texas for the year

1-30     preceding the first day of the term or semester; and

1-31                 (3)  satisfies at least one of the following

1-32     requirements:

1-33                       (A)  for the year preceding the first day of the

1-34     term or semester has owned real property in Texas and in that time

1-35     has not been delinquent in the payment of any taxes on the

1-36     property;

1-37                       (B)  has had an automobile registered in Texas

1-38     for the year preceding the first day of the term or semester; or

1-39                       (C)  at least one year preceding the first day of

1-40     the term or semester executed a will that has not been revoked or

1-41     superseded indicating that the member is a resident of this state

1-42     and deposited the will with the county clerk of the county of the

1-43     member's residence under Section 71, Texas Probate Code.

1-44           (i)  A former member of the Armed Forces of the United States

1-45     or the former member's spouse or child is entitled to pay the

1-46     tuition fees and other fees or charges provided for Texas residents

1-47     for any term or semester at a state institution of higher education

1-48     that begins before the first anniversary of the member's separation

1-49     from the Armed Forces if the former member:

1-50                 (1)  has retired or been honorably discharged from the

1-51     Armed Forces; and

1-52                 (2)  has complied with the requirements of Subsection

1-53     (d).

1-54           SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies

1-55     beginning with the fall term or semester in 1997.

1-56           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-57     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-58     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-59     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-60     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

1-61     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

1-62     passage, and it is so enacted.

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