By:  Ratliff, Zaffirini                                S.B. No. 961

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

                                       AN ACT

 1-1     relating to state formula funding to an institution of higher

 1-2     education and tuition costs for certain resident doctoral students.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 54.066, Education Code, is amended to

 1-5     read as follows:

 1-6           Sec. 54.066.  TUITION RATES FOR CERTAIN DOCTORAL STUDENTS.

 1-7     The governing board of an institution of higher education may

 1-8     charge a resident doctoral student who has more semester credit

 1-9     hours of doctoral work than allowed for purposes of state funding

1-10     for the current state fiscal biennium under Section 61.059(l)

1-11     tuition at the rate charged nonresident doctoral students.  Tuition

1-12     charged at the rate provided by this section shall be accounted for

1-13     as if collected under Section 54.008.

1-14           SECTION 2.  Subsection (l), Section 61.059, Education Code,

1-15     is amended to read as follows:

1-16           (l)(1)  Except as provided by Subdivision (2), the [The]

1-17     board may not include in any formula under this section funding

1-18     based on the number of doctoral students who have a total of 100

1-19     [131] or more semester credit hours of doctoral work at an

1-20     institution of higher education.

1-21                 (2)  Notwithstanding Subdivision (1), the board may

1-22     approve formula funding for semester credit hours in excess of 100,

1-23     not to exceed 130 total semester credit hours, for a doctoral

 2-1     student if the institution:

 2-2                       (A)  provides the board with substantial evidence

 2-3     that the particular field of study in which the student is enrolled

 2-4     requires a higher number of semester credit hours to maintain

 2-5     nationally competitive standards;

 2-6                       (B)  provides the board with evidence that the

 2-7     student's program or research is likely to provide substantial

 2-8     benefit to medical or scientific advancement and that the program

 2-9     or research requires the additional semester credit hours; or

2-10                       (C)  provides the board with other compelling

2-11     academic reasons that support the finding of an exception.

2-12                 (3)  The board shall report to the Legislative Budget

2-13     Board, as part of its report on formula funding recommendations, a

2-14     listing of the exceptions approved under Subdivision (2) and the

2-15     associated costs in formula-based funding.

2-16           SECTION 3.  (a)  The change in law made by Section 1 of this

2-17     Act applies beginning with the 1997 fall semester.  For the

2-18     1997-1998 and 1998-1999 academic years, the number of semester

2-19     credit hours in excess of which Section 54.066, Education Code, as

2-20     amended by this Act, allows an institution to charge tuition at the

2-21     nonresident rate is 131 semester credit hours.

2-22           (b)  Subsection (l), Section 61.059, Education Code, as

2-23     amended by this Act, applies only to formulas established under

2-24     Section 61.059, Education Code, for fiscal years that begin on or

2-25     after September 1, 1999.

 3-1           (c)  Any savings resulting from implementation of Subsection

 3-2     (l), Section 61.059, Education Code, shall not serve as a basis for

 3-3     reducing the amount of the total general revenue available for

 3-4     funding any formula on a basis other than that prohibited by

 3-5     Subsection (l), Section 61.059, Education Code.

 3-6           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

 3-7     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 3-8     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 3-9     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

3-10     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

3-11     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

3-12     passage, and it is so enacted.