1-1 By: Sibley, Armbrister S.B. No. 576
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed February 12, 1997; February 18, 1997,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Finance;
1-4 April 9, 1997, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
1-5 Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 13, Nays 0; April 9, 1997,
1-6 sent to printer.)
1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 576 By: Sibley
1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-9 AN ACT
1-10 relating to the establishment of the Texas New Horizons Scholarship
1-11 Trust Fund to exempt worthy high school graduates from tuition and
1-12 fees at public institutions of higher education.
1-13 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-14 SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 54, Education Code, is
1-15 amended by adding Section 54.216 to read as follows:
1-16 Sec. 54.216. TEXAS NEW HORIZONS SCHOLARSHIPS. (a) The
1-17 Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall issue scholarships,
1-18 in a number to be determined by the coordinating board after
1-19 reviewing the total amount of money available to the Texas New
1-20 Horizons Scholarship Trust Fund, to qualified high school
1-21 graduates. A scholarship may be used by the recipient to attend
1-22 any institution of higher education and exempts the recipient from
1-23 the payment of tuition and required fees during the recipient's
1-24 undergraduate enrollment at the institution.
1-25 (b) The coordinating board shall adopt rules as necessary
1-26 for the administration of this section, including rules relating to
1-27 the establishment of the scholarships, the criteria for awarding a
1-28 scholarship, and the determination of eligibility.
1-29 (c) The criteria for awarding a scholarship must be based on
1-30 the following factors:
1-31 (1) the socioeconomic background of the student,
1-32 including the percentage by which the student's family is below any
1-33 recognized measure of poverty;
1-34 (2) whether the student's parents have received
1-35 baccalaureate degrees;
1-36 (3) whether the wealth per student of the school
1-37 district the student attended was below the average wealth per
1-38 student of school districts as determined in Chapter 41;
1-39 (4) whether the student has demonstrated
1-40 responsibility in the student's work in school, with the student's
1-41 family, and within the student's community, including whether the
1-42 student has been employed while in high school or whether the
1-43 student has performed substantial child-care duties or has helped
1-44 to raise children;
1-45 (5) whether the student is a resident of an urban area
1-46 or a rural area for which recognized socioeconomic indicators are
1-47 lower than is average for similar areas;
1-48 (6) the student's performance on standardized tests;
1-49 and
1-50 (7) the student's performance on standardized tests in
1-51 comparison with that of other students from similar socioeconomic
1-52 backgrounds.
1-53 (d) Not later than one year before the date applications for
1-54 scholarships are first considered under this section for each
1-55 academic year, the coordinating board shall publish the criteria
1-56 and a description of the weight given to each factor and the role
1-57 each factor plays in the decision to award scholarships that year.
1-58 (e) The coordinating board shall award the scholarships from
1-59 the amount available in the Texas New Horizons Scholarship Trust
1-60 Fund. The trust fund is established outside the treasury but is
1-61 held in trust by the comptroller. Money in the trust fund may be
1-62 spent without appropriation and only to fund the program. Interest
1-63 and income from the assets of the trust fund shall be credited to
1-64 and deposited in the trust fund. In each state fiscal year the
2-1 coordinating board may spend from the trust fund to cover the
2-2 costs of administering this section an amount not to exceed 2.5
2-3 percent of the total amount of money deposited into the trust fund
2-4 in that fiscal year.
2-5 (f) The coordinating board may accept gifts and grants from
2-6 any public or private source for the purposes of this subchapter,
2-7 and may deposit a gift or grant to the credit of the trust fund.
2-8 (g) The legislature may appropriate money to the trust fund.
2-9 SECTION 2. Section 74.3011, Property Code, is amended to
2-10 read as follows:
2-11 Sec. 74.3011. DELIVERY OF MONEY TO TEXAS NEW HORIZONS
2-12 [RURAL] SCHOLARSHIP TRUST FUND. (a) Notwithstanding and in
2-13 addition to any other provision of this chapter or other law, a
2-14 local telephone exchange company shall [may] deliver reported money
2-15 to the Texas New Horizons Scholarship Trust Fund established under
2-16 Section 54.216, Education Code, [a scholarship fund for rural
2-17 students] instead of delivering the money to the comptroller [state
2-18 treasurer] as prescribed by Section 74.301.
2-19 (b) [A local telephone exchange company may deliver the
2-20 money under this section only to a scholarship fund established by
2-21 one or more local telephone exchange companies in this state to
2-22 enable needy students from rural areas to attend college, technical
2-23 school, or another postsecondary educational institution.]
2-24 [(c)] A local telephone exchange company shall file with the
2-25 comptroller [state treasurer] a verification of money delivered
2-26 under this section that complies with Section 74.302.
2-27 (c) [(d)] A claim for money delivered to the Texas New
2-28 Horizons Scholarship Trust Fund [a scholarship fund] under this
2-29 section must be filed with the local telephone exchange company
2-30 that delivered the money. The local telephone exchange company
2-31 shall forward the claim to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating
2-32 Board [administrator of the scholarship fund to which the money
2-33 was delivered]. The coordinating board [scholarship fund] shall
2-34 pay the claim from the scholarship trust fund if the coordinating
2-35 board [fund] determines in good faith that the claim is valid. A
2-36 person aggrieved by a claim decision may file a suit against the
2-37 coordinating board [fund] in a district court in Travis County [the
2-38 county in which the administrator of the scholarship fund is
2-39 located] in accordance with Section 74.506.
2-40 (d) [(e)] The comptroller [state treasurer] shall prescribe
2-41 forms and procedures governing this section, including forms and
2-42 procedures relating to:
2-43 (1) notice of presumed abandoned property;
2-44 (2) delivery of reported money to the [a] scholarship
2-45 trust fund; and
2-46 (3) filing of a claim.
2-47 (e) [(f)] In this section, "local telephone exchange
2-48 company" means a telecommunications utility certificated to provide
2-49 local exchange service within this [the] state [and that is a
2-50 telephone cooperative or has fewer than 50,000 access lines in
2-51 service in this state].
2-52 [(g) During a state fiscal year, the total amount of money
2-53 that may be transferred by all local telephone exchange companies
2-54 under this section may not exceed $400,000. The state treasury
2-55 shall keep a record of the total amount of money transferred
2-56 annually. When the total amount of money transferred during a
2-57 state fiscal year equals the amount allowed by this subsection, the
2-58 treasury shall notify each local telephone exchange company that
2-59 the company may not transfer any additional money to the company's
2-60 scholarship fund during the remainder of that state fiscal year.]
2-61 SECTION 3. Section 74.3012, Property Code, is repealed.
2-62 SECTION 4. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
2-63 section, this Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
2-64 (b) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall
2-65 adopt the criteria for awarding scholarships under Section 54.216,
2-66 Education Code, as added by this Act, not later than December 1,
2-67 1997. The coordinating board shall use those criteria in awarding
2-68 any scholarships awarded before September 1, 1998.
2-69 SECTION 5. 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 * * * * *