By Naishtat                                           H.B. No. 1882
         76R1912 KEL-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to requiring the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
 1-3     to approve formula funding for certain doctoral students.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 61.059(l), Education Code, is amended to
 1-6     read as follows:
 1-7                 (l)(1)  Except as provided by this section [Subdivision
 1-8     (2)], the board may not include in any formula under this section
 1-9     funding based on the number of doctoral students who have a total
1-10     of 100 or more semester credit hours of doctoral work at an
1-11     institution of higher education.
1-12                 (2)  The [Notwithstanding Subdivision (1), the] board
1-13     may approve formula funding for semester credit hours in excess of
1-14     100, not to exceed 130 total semester credit hours, for a doctoral
1-15     student if the institution:
1-16                       (A)  provides the board with substantial evidence
1-17     that the particular field of study in which the student is enrolled
1-18     requires a higher number of semester credit hours to maintain
1-19     nationally competitive standards;
1-20                       (B)  provides the board with evidence that the
1-21     student's program or research is likely to provide substantial
1-22     benefit to medical or scientific advancement and that the program
1-23     or research requires the additional semester credit hours; or
1-24                       (C)  provides the board with other compelling
 2-1     academic reasons that  support the finding of an exception.
 2-2                 (3)  The board shall establish guidelines recognizing
 2-3     other reasonable exceptions to Subdivision (1), under which an
 2-4     institution may designate doctoral students for whom the board
 2-5     shall approve formula funding for semester credit hours in excess
 2-6     of 100, not to exceed 130 total semester credit hours.
 2-7                 (4)  The board shall establish guidelines for
 2-8     identifying doctoral programs that should be exempt from
 2-9     Subdivision (1), under which an institution may designate
2-10     particular doctoral programs for which the board shall approve
2-11     formula funding for all doctoral students enrolled in the doctoral
2-12     programs without regard to the number of semester credit hours a
2-13     student has attempted.
2-14                 (5)  The board shall approve formula funding for all
2-15     doctoral students who are enrolled in a doctoral program that is
2-16     substantially similar to a doctoral program offered by another
2-17     institution of higher education that is funded in a manner that
2-18     does not directly depend on whether a student in the program pays
2-19     tuition at the rate charged other Texas residents or at a higher
2-20     rate.
2-21                 (6) [(3)]  The board shall report to the Legislative
2-22     Budget Board, as part of its report on formula funding
2-23     recommendations, a listing of the exceptions approved under this
2-24     section [Subdivision (2)] and the associated costs in formula-based
2-25     funding.
2-26           SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
2-27     to a formula established under Section 61.059, Education Code, on
 3-1     or after September 1, 1999.
 3-2           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 3-3     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-4     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-5     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-6     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
 3-7     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
 3-8     passage, and it is so enacted.