HBA-MPM S.B. 332 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisS.B. 332 By: Moncrief Higher Education 4/27/1999 Engrossed BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, public and private institutions of higher education in Texas offer a wide range of internship opportunities in the Washington, D.C. area, and are typically arranged at the academic department level in each institution. Internships often combine intense practical work experience and certain types of course work, which can cause an internship to prove costly to a student. S.B. 332 authorizes institutions of higher education to impose a fee to support Washington, D.C., internships and would abolish the Texas-Washington, D.C., intern scholarship program. 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 Subchapter E, Chapter 54, Education Code, by adding Section 54.5134, as follows: Sec. 54.5134. WASHINGTON, D.C., INTERNSHIP EDUCATION FEE. Authorizes the governing board of an institution of higher education to collect from each student registered at the institution a fee not to exceed $1 per semester or summer session, if imposition of the fee is approved by a majority vote of the students of the institution participating in a general student election held for that purpose. Authorizes the amount of the fee imposed at an institution to be increased from one academic year to the next by more than 10 percent only if approved by a majority of the vote of the participating students. Requires revenue from the fee to be deposited in a fund established by the institution outside the state treasury and identified as the institution's Washington, D.C., internship financial aid fund (fund). Authorizes money in the fund to be used only to assist a student participating in a Washington, D.C. internship program administered by the institution. Authorizes the fund to be used in accordance with guidelines jointly developed by the student governing body and the administration of the institution. Provides that if a school has no student governing body, the institutions president may appoint a committee of students to assist with the development of the guidelines. Prohibits a fee under this section from being considered in determining the maximum amount of student services fees that may be charged. SECTION 2. Repealer: Subchapter L, Chapter 56, Education Code (Texas-Washington, D.C., Intern Scholarship Program). Establishes that the repeal does not affect a grant awarded under that subchapter before the effective date of this section or the completion of the internship pursuant to the grant, and the repealed law remains in effect for that purpose. SECTION 3. Provides that SECTION 1 of this Act applies beginning with the 1999 fall semester. Effective date of SECTION 2: September 1, 1999. SECTION 4. Emergency clause.