By: Sibley, Armbrister S.B. No. 576
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the establishment of the Texas New Horizons Scholarship
1-2 Trust Fund to exempt worthy high school graduates from tuition and
1-3 fees at public institutions of higher education.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 54, Education Code, is
1-6 amended by adding Section 54.216 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 54.216. TEXAS NEW HORIZONS SCHOLARSHIPS. (a) The
1-8 Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall issue scholarships,
1-9 in a number to be determined by the coordinating board after
1-10 reviewing the total amount of money available to the Texas New
1-11 Horizons Scholarship Trust Fund, to qualified high school
1-12 graduates. A scholarship may be used by the recipient to attend
1-13 any institution of higher education and exempts the recipient from
1-14 the payment of tuition and required fees during the recipient's
1-15 undergraduate enrollment at the institution.
1-16 (b) The coordinating board shall adopt rules as necessary
1-17 for the administration of this section, including rules relating to
1-18 the establishment of the scholarships, the criteria for awarding a
1-19 scholarship, and the determination of eligibility.
1-20 (c) The criteria for awarding a scholarship must be based on
1-21 the following factors:
1-22 (1) the socioeconomic background of the student,
1-23 including the percentage by which the student's family is below any
2-1 recognized measure of poverty;
2-2 (2) whether the student's parents have received
2-3 baccalaureate degrees;
2-4 (3) whether the wealth per student of the school
2-5 district the student attended was below the average wealth per
2-6 student of school districts as determined in Chapter 41;
2-7 (4) whether the student has demonstrated
2-8 responsibility in the student's work in school, with the student's
2-9 family, and within the student's community, including whether the
2-10 student has been employed while in high school or whether the
2-11 student has performed substantial child-care duties or has helped
2-12 to raise children;
2-13 (5) whether the student is a resident of an urban area
2-14 or a rural area for which recognized socioeconomic indicators are
2-15 lower than is average for similar areas;
2-16 (6) the student's performance on standardized tests;
2-17 and
2-18 (7) the student's performance on standardized tests in
2-19 comparison with that of other students from similar socioeconomic
2-20 backgrounds.
2-21 (d) Not later than one year before the date applications for
2-22 scholarships are first considered under this section for each
2-23 academic year, the coordinating board shall publish the criteria
2-24 and a description of the weight given to each factor and the role
2-25 each factor plays in the decision to award scholarships that year.
3-1 (e) The coordinating board shall award the scholarships from
3-2 the amount available in the Texas New Horizons Scholarship Trust
3-3 Fund. The trust fund is established outside the treasury but is
3-4 held in trust by the comptroller. Money in the trust fund may be
3-5 spent without appropriation and only to fund the program. Interest
3-6 and income from the assets of the trust fund shall be credited to
3-7 and deposited in the trust fund. In each state fiscal year the
3-8 coordinating board may spend from the trust fund to cover the costs
3-9 of administering this section an amount not to exceed 2.5 percent
3-10 of the total amount of money deposited into the trust fund in that
3-11 fiscal year.
3-12 (f) The coordinating board may accept gifts and grants from
3-13 any public or private source for the purposes of this subchapter,
3-14 and may deposit a gift or grant to the credit of the trust fund.
3-15 (g) The legislature may appropriate money to the trust fund.
3-16 SECTION 2. Section 74.3011, Property Code, is amended to
3-17 read as follows:
3-18 Sec. 74.3011. DELIVERY OF MONEY TO TEXAS NEW HORIZONS
3-19 [RURAL] SCHOLARSHIP TRUST FUND. (a) The comptroller shall pay any
3-20 amount delivered by local telephone exchange companies as a group
3-21 that is in excess of $2 million in any state fiscal year to the
3-22 Texas New Horizons Scholarship Trust Fund established under Section
3-23 54.216, Education Code [Notwithstanding and in addition to any
3-24 other provision of this chapter or other law, a local telephone
3-25 exchange company may deliver reported money to a scholarship fund
4-1 for rural students instead of delivering the money to the state
4-2 treasurer as prescribed by Section 74.301].
4-3 (b) [A local telephone exchange company may deliver the
4-4 money under this section only to a scholarship fund established by
4-5 one or more local telephone exchange companies in this state to
4-6 enable needy students from rural areas to attend college, technical
4-7 school, or another postsecondary educational institution.]
4-8 [(c)] A local telephone exchange company shall file with the
4-9 comptroller [state treasurer] a verification of money delivered
4-10 under this section that complies with Section 74.302.
4-11 (c) [(d) A claim for money delivered to a scholarship fund
4-12 under this section must be filed with the local telephone exchange
4-13 company that delivered the money. The local telephone exchange
4-14 company shall forward the claim to the administrator of the
4-15 scholarship fund to which the money was delivered. The scholarship
4-16 fund shall pay the claim if the fund determines in good faith that
4-17 the claim is valid. A person aggrieved by a claim decision may
4-18 file a suit against the fund in a district court in the county in
4-19 which the administrator of the scholarship fund is located in
4-20 accordance with Section 74.506.]
4-21 [(e) The state treasurer shall prescribe forms and
4-22 procedures governing this section, including forms and procedures
4-23 relating to:]
4-24 [(1) notice of presumed abandoned property;]
4-25 [(2) delivery of reported money to a scholarship fund;
5-1 and]
5-2 [(3) filing of a claim.]
5-3 [(f)] In this section, "local telephone exchange company"
5-4 means a telecommunications utility certificated to provide local
5-5 exchange service within this [the] state [and that is a telephone
5-6 cooperative or has fewer than 50,000 access lines in service in
5-7 this state.]
5-8 [(g) During a state fiscal year, the total amount of money
5-9 that may be transferred by all local telephone exchange companies
5-10 under this section may not exceed $400,000. The state treasury
5-11 shall keep a record of the total amount of money transferred
5-12 annually. When the total amount of money transferred during a
5-13 state fiscal year equals the amount allowed by this subsection, the
5-14 treasury shall notify each local telephone exchange company that
5-15 the company may not transfer any additional money to the company's
5-16 scholarship fund during the remainder of that state fiscal year].
5-17 SECTION 3. Section 74.3012, Property Code, is repealed.
5-18 SECTION 4. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
5-19 section, this Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
5-20 (b) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall
5-21 adopt the criteria for awarding scholarships under Section 54.216,
5-22 Education Code, as added by this Act, not later than December 1,
5-23 1997. The coordinating board shall use those criteria in awarding
5-24 any scholarships awarded before September 1, 1998.
5-25 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
6-1 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-2 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-3 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-4 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.