1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the deposit of excess proprietary school fees to the
1-3 proprietary school tuition protection fund.
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 acquired education, training, or experience [courses
2-20 designed] to prepare the student [students] for an examination,
2-21 other than a high school equivalency examination, that the student
2-22 by law may not take unless the student has completed or
2-23 substantially completed a particular degree program, or that the
2-24 student is required to take as a precondition for enrollment in or
2-25 admission to a particular degree program [certified public
2-26 accountancy tests, public accountancy tests, law school aptitude
2-27 tests, bar examinations, or medical college admissions tests];
3-1 (10) a private school offering primary or secondary
3-2 education, which may include a kindergarten or prekindergarten
3-3 program, and that satisfies the compulsory attendance requirements
3-4 of Section 25.085 pursuant to Section 25.086(a)(1);
3-5 (11) a course or courses of instruction by bona fide
3-6 electrical trade associations for the purpose of preparing students
3-7 for electrical tests required for licensing and for the purpose of
3-8 providing continuing education to students for the renewal of
3-9 electrical licenses;
3-10 (12) a nonprofit arts organization that has as its
3-11 primary purpose the provision of instruction in the dramatic arts
3-12 and the communications media to persons younger than 19 years of
3-13 age;
3-14 (13) a course or training program conducted by a
3-15 nonprofit association of air conditioning and refrigeration
3-16 contractors approved by the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration
3-17 Contractors Advisory Board to provide instruction for technical,
3-18 business, or license examination preparation programs relating to
3-19 air conditioning and refrigeration contracting, as that term is
3-20 defined by the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractor
3-21 License Law (Article 8861, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes); [and]
3-22 (14) a course of instruction by a plumbing trade
3-23 association to prepare students for a plumbing test or program
3-24 required for licensing, certification, or endorsement or to provide
3-25 continuing education approved by the Texas State Board of Plumbing
3-26 Examiners; and
3-27 (15) a course of instruction in the use of
4-1 technological hardware or software if the course is offered to a
4-2 purchaser of the hardware or software or to the purchaser's
4-3 employee by a person who manufactures and sells, or develops and
4-4 sells, the hardware or software, and if the seller is not primarily
4-5 in the business of providing courses of instruction in the use of
4-6 the hardware or software, as determined by the commission.
4-7 SECTION 2. Section 132.241, Education Code, is amended by
4-8 adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
4-9 (e) If at the end of a fiscal year the commission determines
4-10 that it has collected fees under this chapter in excess of the
4-11 amount necessary to defray the cost and expense of administering
4-12 this chapter, the commission may transfer any portion of the excess
4-13 amount to the tuition protection fund. The balance of the fund may
4-14 not exceed an amount greater than $250,000.
4-15 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
4-16 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
4-17 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-18 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-19 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-20 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 3295 was passed by the House on April
29, 1999, by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 3295 was passed by the Senate on May
20, 1999, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor