1-1     By:  Chavez (Senate Sponsor - Shapleigh)              H.B. No. 2622
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 9, 1999;
 1-3     April 12, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
 1-4     Education; May 6, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:
 1-5     Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 6, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the authority of the governing board of an institution
 1-9     of higher education to waive certain fees.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Subchapter E, Chapter 54, Education Code, is
1-12     amended by adding Section 54.5035 to read as follows:
1-13           Sec. 54.5035.  WAIVER OF FEES.  (a)  Except as provided by
1-14     Subsection (c), the governing board of an institution of higher
1-15     education may waive a mandatory or discretionary fee for a student
1-16     if the board determines that the student is not reasonably able to
1-17     participate in or use the activity, service, or facility for which
1-18     the fee is charged.
1-19           (b)  Except as provided by Subsection (c), the governing
1-20     board of an institution of higher education may waive a mandatory
1-21     or discretionary fee for a specific category of students if the
1-22     board determines that the waiver is in the best interest of the
1-23     institution or is critical to the viability of an academic
1-24     initiative.
1-25           (c)  The governing board must ensure that a waiver under this
1-26     section does not result in the institution's inability to service a
1-27     debt to which revenue from the fee is obligated or to support an
1-28     activity, service, or facility for which the fee is charged.
1-29           (d)  This section does not permit the governing board to
1-30     waive payment of tuition or laboratory fees.
1-31           (e)  The governing board may limit or prohibit a student's
1-32     participation in or use of an activity, service, or facility
1-33     supported by a fee that is waived for the student under this
1-34     section.
1-35           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-36           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-37     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-38     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-39     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-40     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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