By Farrar                                             H.B. No. 2865
         76R6888 CAG-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the creation and administration of the research
 1-3     university fund.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subtitle H, Title 3, Education Code, is amended
 1-6     by adding Chapter 151 to read as follows:
 1-7                    CHAPTER 151. RESEARCH UNIVERSITY FUND
 1-8           Sec. 151.001.  PURPOSE.  The purpose of the research
 1-9     university fund is to provide excellence funding to eligible Texas
1-10     public research institutions of higher education to allow Texas to
1-11     remain at the forefront of scientific and technological innovation
1-12     by developing a highly skilled workforce and fostering sustained
1-13     scientific innovation and commercialization of technology.
1-14           Sec. 151.002.  DEFINITIONS.  In this chapter:
1-15                 (1)  "Carnegie classification" means a system created
1-16     by the Carnegie Foundation to classify institutions of higher
1-17     education in the United States based on an institution's mission.
1-18                 (2)  "Coordinating board" means the Texas Higher
1-19     Education Coordinating Board.
1-20                 (3)  "Eligible institution" means a general academic
1-21     teaching institution, as that term is defined in Section 61.003,
1-22     that:
1-23                       (A)  is not eligible to receive money from the
1-24     available university fund under Section 18(e), Article VII, Texas
 2-1     Constitution; and
 2-2                       (B)  has been designated as a "Research
 2-3     University 1" or "Research University 2" by the Carnegie
 2-4     classification or an equivalent classification as determined by the
 2-5     coordinating board.
 2-6           Sec. 151.003.  RESEARCH UNIVERSITY FUND.  (a)  The research
 2-7     university fund is a fund outside the state treasury in the custody
 2-8     of the comptroller.
 2-9           (b)  Each state fiscal year, the legislature may appropriate
2-10     not less than $50 million to the research university fund.
2-11           (c)  The coordinating board shall recommend to the
2-12     legislature a method or formula to allocate the money in the
2-13     research university fund to the eligible institutions.
2-14           (d)  An amount allocated from the research university fund to
2-15     an eligible institution may be used only to further the purposes of
2-16     this chapter.
2-17           (e)  The comptroller shall administer and invest the fund in
2-18     the same manner as the permanent university fund.
2-19           SECTION 2.  Sections 62.025 and 62.026, Education Code, are
2-20     repealed.
2-21           SECTION 3.  Not later than September 1, 1999, the comptroller
2-22     and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall adopt rules
2-23     necessary to administer Chapter 151, Education Code, as added by
2-24     this Act.
2-25           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-26     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-27     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-1     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-2     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
 3-3     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
 3-4     passage, and it is so enacted.