By Luna                                          S.B. No. 850

      75R5959 CAG-F                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the student union building fees at The University of

 1-3     Texas at San Antonio.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 54.532, Education Code, is amended to

 1-6     read as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 54.532.  STUDENT UNION BUILDING FEES; THE UNIVERSITY OF

 1-8     TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO.  (a)  The board of regents of The University

 1-9     of Texas System may levy a student union fee of not less than $20

1-10     or more than $75 for each semester or summer session, assessed in

1-11     proportion to the number of credit hours for which a student

1-12     registers, [not to exceed $30 per student for each regular semester

1-13     and not to exceed $15 per student for each term of the summer

1-14     session,] for the sole purpose of financing, [constructing,]

1-15     operating, maintaining, and improving a student union building for

1-16     The University of Texas at San Antonio.  This fee may be levied in

1-17     addition to any other use or service fee.  [Furthermore, the fee

1-18     may be levied only upon an affirmative vote of a majority of the

1-19     student body voting of The University of Texas at San Antonio.]

1-20           (b)  The fees collected under Subsection (a) of this section

1-21     shall be deposited to an account known as The University of Texas

1-22     at San Antonio University Center Fee Account and shall be placed

1-23     under the control of and subject to the order of the university

1-24     center advisory committee. The committee shall annually submit to

 2-1     the president of The University of Texas at San Antonio a complete

 2-2     and itemized budget to be accompanied by a full and complete report

 2-3     of all activities conducted during the past year and all

 2-4     expenditures made incident to those activities.  The president

 2-5     shall submit the budget to the board of regents as part of the

 2-6     institutional budget. The board of regents shall make such changes

 2-7     in the budget as it deems necessary before approving the budget[,

 2-8     but only after a student referendum has been called on the issue of

 2-9     increase in the fee, and the issue has been approved by a majority

2-10     of the students voting in the election].  The board shall then levy

2-11     the fees, within the limits fixed in this section, in such amounts

2-12     as will be sufficient to meet the budgetary needs of the student

2-13     union building.

2-14           (c)  The board may not increase the amount of the student

2-15     union fee by more than 10 percent in any academic year unless the

2-16     amount of the increase is approved by a majority of the students

2-17     voting in an election held for that purpose or by a majority of the

2-18     student government of the institution.

2-19           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies

2-20     only to a fee imposed for a semester or summer session that begins

2-21     on or after the effective date of this Act.

2-22           (b)  Notwithstanding Section 54.532, Education Code, as

2-23     amended by this Act, the maximum amount of the student union fee

2-24     per student under that section for the 1997 fall semester is $44.

2-25           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-26     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-27     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 3-1     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 3-2     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

 3-3     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

 3-4     passage, and it is so enacted.