By Uresti                                             H.B. No. 2097
         76R7666 CAG-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to requiring an application for admission to a public
 1-3     institution of higher education as a requirement for graduation
 1-4     from high school.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Section 28.025, Education Code, is amended by
 1-7     adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
 1-8           (d)  The State Board of Education by rule shall require a
 1-9     student, before the student's graduation and receipt of a diploma
1-10     or certificate of coursework completion, to apply to at least one
1-11     institution of higher education, as defined in Section 61.003, for
1-12     admission.
1-13           SECTION 2.  Subchapter C, Chapter 61, Education Code, is
1-14     amended by adding Section 61.085 to read as follows:
1-15           Sec. 61.085.  WAIVER OF CERTAIN APPLICATION FEE.  (a)  The
1-16     board shall adopt rules that permit each high school student in
1-17     this state to apply to one institution of higher education without
1-18     paying an application fee to permit the student to comply with
1-19     Section 28.025(d).
1-20           (b)  The board, in cooperation with the commissioner of
1-21     education and each institution of higher education, shall adopt a
1-22     uniform method of reporting applications for admission to the
1-23     institution that would allow the determination of whether a student
1-24     has complied with Section 28.025(d).
 2-1           SECTION 3.  (a)  The State Board of Education and the Texas
 2-2     Higher Education Coordinating Board shall adopt the rules required
 2-3     by Sections 28.025(d) and 61.085, Education Code, as added by this
 2-4     Act, not later than January 1, 2000.
 2-5           (b)  The requirements of Section 28.025(d), Education Code,
 2-6     as added by this Act, apply only to a student who receives a high
 2-7     school diploma or certificate of coursework completion after the
 2-8     2000 spring semester.
 2-9           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-10     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-11     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-12     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-13     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-14     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-15     passage, and it is so enacted.