By Naishtat H.B. No. 3142
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to exempting certain courses of instruction or review from
1-3 proprietary school certification.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 132.002(a), Education Code, is amended to
1-6 read as follows:
1-7 (a) The following schools or educational institutions are
1-8 specifically exempt from this chapter and are not within the
1-9 definition of "proprietary school":
1-10 (1) a school or educational institution supported by
1-11 taxation from either a local or state source;
1-12 (2) nonprofit schools owned, controlled, operated, and
1-13 conducted by bona fide religious, denominational, eleemosynary, or
1-14 similar public institutions exempt from property taxation under the
1-15 laws of this state, but such schools may choose to apply for a
1-16 certificate of approval hereunder, and upon approval and issuance,
1-17 are subject to this chapter as determined by the commission;
1-18 (3) a school or training program that offers
1-19 instruction of purely avocational or recreational subjects as
1-20 determined by the commission;
1-21 (4) a course or courses of instruction or study
1-22 sponsored by an employer for the training and preparation of its
1-23 own employees, and for which no tuition fee is charged to the
1-24 student;
2-1 (5) a course or courses of study or instruction
2-2 sponsored by a recognized trade, business, or professional
2-3 organization for the instruction of the members of the organization
2-4 with a closed membership;
2-5 (6) private colleges or universities that award a
2-6 recognized baccalaureate, or higher degree, and that maintain and
2-7 operate educational programs for which a majority of the credits
2-8 given are transferable to a college, junior college, or university
2-9 supported entirely or partly by taxation from either a local or
2-10 state source;
2-11 (7) a school or course that is otherwise regulated and
2-12 approved under and pursuant to any other law or rulemaking process
2-13 of this state or approved for continuing education credit by an
2-14 organization that accredits courses for the maintenance of a
2-15 license, except as provided by Subsection (c);
2-16 (8) aviation schools or instructors approved by and
2-17 under the supervision of the Federal Aviation Administration;
2-18 (9) a school that offers intensive review of a
2-19 student's previously acquired education, training, or experience
2-20 [courses designed] to prepare the student [students] for an
2-21 examination, other than the high school equivalency examination,
2-22 that:
2-23 (A) the student by law may not take unless the
2-24 student has completed or substantially completed a particular
2-25 degree program; or
2-26 (B) the student is required to take as a
2-27 precondition for enrollment in, or consideration for admission to,
3-1 a particular degree program [certified public accountancy tests,
3-2 public accountancy tests, law school aptitude tests, bar
3-3 examinations, or medical college admissions tests];
3-4 (10) a private school offering primary or secondary
3-5 education, which may include a kindergarten or prekindergarten
3-6 program, and that satisfies the compulsory attendance requirements
3-7 of Section 25.085 pursuant to Section 25.086(a)(1);
3-8 (11) a course or courses of instruction by bona fide
3-9 electrical trade associations for the purpose of preparing students
3-10 for electrical tests required for licensing and for the purpose of
3-11 providing continuing education to students for the renewal of
3-12 electrical licenses;
3-13 (12) a nonprofit arts organization that has as its
3-14 primary purpose the provision of instruction in the dramatic arts
3-15 and the communications media to persons younger than 19 years of
3-16 age;
3-17 (13) a course or training program conducted by a
3-18 nonprofit association of air conditioning and refrigeration
3-19 contractors approved by the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration
3-20 Contractors Advisory Board to provide instruction for technical,
3-21 business, or license examination preparation programs relating to
3-22 air conditioning and refrigeration contracting, as that term is
3-23 defined by the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractor
3-24 License Law (Article 8861, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes); [and]
3-25 (14) a course of instruction by a plumbing trade
3-26 association to prepare students for a plumbing test or program
3-27 required for licensing, certification, or endorsement or to provide
4-1 continuing education approved by the Texas State Board of Plumbing
4-2 Examiners;
4-3 (15) a course of instruction in the use of
4-4 technological hardware or software if the course is offered to a
4-5 purchaser of the hardware or software or to the purchaser's
4-6 employee by a person who:
4-7 (A) manufactures and sells, or develops and
4-8 sells, the hardware or software; and
4-9 (B) is not primarily in the business of
4-10 providing courses of instruction in the use of the hardware or
4-11 software, as determined by the commission; and
4-12 (16) a course of instruction that is provided on a
4-13 one-to-one basis. This exemption for one-to-one instruction does
4-14 not include instruction to more than one individual at one time
4-15 with time spent alternating from one individual within the group to
4-16 other individuals within the group.
4-17 SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
4-18 to a course of instruction or review beginning on or after the
4-19 effective date of this Act. A course of instruction or review
4-20 beginning before the effective date of this Act is governed by the
4-21 law in effect when the course began, and the former law is
4-22 continued in effect for that purpose.
4-23 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
4-24 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
4-25 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-26 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-27 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-1 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.