1-1 By: Goolsby (Senate Sponsor - West) H.B. No. 3295
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House April 30, 1999;
1-3 May 3, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Administration; May 11, 1999, reported favorably by the following
1-5 vote: Yeas 4, Nays 0; May 11, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the deposit of excess proprietary school fees to the
1-9 proprietary school tuition protection fund.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Section 132.002(a), Education Code, is amended to
1-12 read as follows:
1-13 (a) The following schools or educational institutions are
1-14 specifically exempt from this chapter and are not within the
1-15 definition of "proprietary school":
1-16 (1) a school or educational institution supported by
1-17 taxation from either a local or state source;
1-18 (2) nonprofit schools owned, controlled, operated, and
1-19 conducted by bona fide religious, denominational, eleemosynary, or
1-20 similar public institutions exempt from property taxation under the
1-21 laws of this state, but such schools may choose to apply for a
1-22 certificate of approval hereunder, and upon approval and issuance,
1-23 are subject to this chapter as determined by the commission;
1-24 (3) a school or training program that offers
1-25 instruction of purely avocational or recreational subjects as
1-26 determined by the commission;
1-27 (4) a course or courses of instruction or study
1-28 sponsored by an employer for the training and preparation of its
1-29 own employees, and for which no tuition fee is charged to the
1-30 student;
1-31 (5) a course or courses of study or instruction
1-32 sponsored by a recognized trade, business, or professional
1-33 organization for the instruction of the members of the organization
1-34 with a closed membership;
1-35 (6) private colleges or universities that award a
1-36 recognized baccalaureate, or higher degree, and that maintain and
1-37 operate educational programs for which a majority of the credits
1-38 given are transferable to a college, junior college, or university
1-39 supported entirely or partly by taxation from either a local or
1-40 state source;
1-41 (7) a school or course that is otherwise regulated and
1-42 approved under and pursuant to any other law or rulemaking process
1-43 of this state or approved for continuing education credit by an
1-44 organization that accredits courses for the maintenance of a
1-45 license, except as provided by Subsection (c);
1-46 (8) aviation schools or instructors approved by and
1-47 under the supervision of the Federal Aviation Administration;
1-48 (9) a school that offers intensive review of a
1-49 student's acquired education, training, or experience [courses
1-50 designed] to prepare the student [students] for an examination,
1-51 other than a high school equivalency examination, that the student
1-52 by law may not take unless the student has completed or
1-53 substantially completed a particular degree program, or that the
1-54 student is required to take as a precondition for enrollment in or
1-55 admission to a particular degree program [certified public
1-56 accountancy tests, public accountancy tests, law school aptitude
1-57 tests, bar examinations, or medical college admissions tests];
1-58 (10) a private school offering primary or secondary
1-59 education, which may include a kindergarten or prekindergarten
1-60 program, and that satisfies the compulsory attendance requirements
1-61 of Section 25.085 pursuant to Section 25.086(a)(1);
1-62 (11) a course or courses of instruction by bona fide
1-63 electrical trade associations for the purpose of preparing students
1-64 for electrical tests required for licensing and for the purpose of
2-1 providing continuing education to students for the renewal of
2-2 electrical licenses;
2-3 (12) a nonprofit arts organization that has as its
2-4 primary purpose the provision of instruction in the dramatic arts
2-5 and the communications media to persons younger than 19 years of
2-6 age;
2-7 (13) a course or training program conducted by a
2-8 nonprofit association of air conditioning and refrigeration
2-9 contractors approved by the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration
2-10 Contractors Advisory Board to provide instruction for technical,
2-11 business, or license examination preparation programs relating to
2-12 air conditioning and refrigeration contracting, as that term is
2-13 defined by the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractor
2-14 License Law (Article 8861, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes); [and]
2-15 (14) a course of instruction by a plumbing trade
2-16 association to prepare students for a plumbing test or program
2-17 required for licensing, certification, or endorsement or to provide
2-18 continuing education approved by the Texas State Board of Plumbing
2-19 Examiners; and
2-20 (15) a course of instruction in the use of
2-21 technological hardware or software if the course is offered to a
2-22 purchaser of the hardware or software or to the purchaser's
2-23 employee by a person who manufactures and sells, or develops and
2-24 sells, the hardware or software, and if the seller is not primarily
2-25 in the business of providing courses of instruction in the use of
2-26 the hardware or software, as determined by the commission.
2-27 SECTION 2. Section 132.241, Education Code, is amended by
2-28 adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
2-29 (e) If at the end of a fiscal year the commission determines
2-30 that it has collected fees under this chapter in excess of the
2-31 amount necessary to defray the cost and expense of administering
2-32 this chapter, the commission may transfer any portion of the excess
2-33 amount to the tuition protection fund. The balance of the fund may
2-34 not exceed an amount greater than $250,000.
2-35 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-36 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-37 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-38 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-39 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-40 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-41 * * * * *