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