HBA-MPA C.S.H.B. 3142 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 3142
By: Naishtat
Economic Development
4/20/1999
Committee Report (Substituted)




BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, some courses offered by businesses that prepare students for
college entrance exams are exempt from regulation while other courses
similar in nature are not.  Courses for the Law School Admission Test
(LSAT), the State Bar, and the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) are
exempt, while courses that prepare examinees for the Scholastic Aptitude
Test (SAT) and the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) are not exempt.  With the
continuing development of technology, the code as currently written does
not encourage consumers to learn how to utilize and benefit from new
hardware and software products.  C.S.H.B. 3142 ensures consistency in the
exemption for preparatory courses for college entrance exams and exempts
from regulation companies that manufacture or develop hardware or software
and then trains consumers about how to use their products, and provides
one-to-one instruction.  

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Section 132.002(a), Education Code, by amending
Subdivision (9) and adding Subdivisions (15) and (16), as follows: 

Sec. 132.002.  EXEMPTIONS. (a) Provides that the following are specifically
exempt from this chapter and are not included in the definition of
"proprietary school":  

(9) a school that offers intensive review of a student's previously
acquired education, training, or experience to prepare the student for an
examination other than the high school equivalency examination that the
student by law may not take unless the student has completed or
substantially completed, or is required to take as a precondition of
enrollment or a condition of admission in a particular degree program,
rather than courses designed to prepare students for certain specified
professional courses.   

(15) a course of instruction in the use of technological hardware and
software offered to a purchaser or the purchaser's employee by a person who
manufactures or  develops and sells the hardware or software and is not
primarily in the business of providing courses of instruction in the use of
the hardware and software, as determined by the Texas Workforce Commission. 

(16) a course of instruction provided exclusively on a one-to-one basis.

SECTION 2.  Makes application of this Act prospective.

SECTION 3.  Effective date: September 1, 1999.

SECTION 4.  Emergency clause.

 COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 3142 differs from the original bill in SECTION 1 (Section
132.002(a), Education Code) by adding to Subdivision (9) the condition that
a high school equivalency examination is not included among the
examinations for which an intensive review course is excluded from the
definition of proprietary school.  The substitute adds to proposed
Subdivision (15) reference to technological hardware and software, to
developing such hardware and software, and to the Texas Workforce
Commission determining if an entity is primarily in the business of
providing courses of instruction in hardware and software.  The substitute
adds a new Subsection (16), to provide that a school offering a course of
instruction provided exclusively on a one-to-one basis is not a proprietary
school.