By Haggerty H.B. No. 3571
76R9337 CAG-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the operation and administration of The University of
1-3 Texas at El Paso.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 54.503(b), Education Code, is amended to
1-6 read as follows:
1-7 (b) The governing board of an institution of higher
1-8 education may charge and collect from students registered at the
1-9 institution fees to cover the cost of student services. The fee or
1-10 fees may be either voluntary or compulsory as determined by the
1-11 governing board. The total of all compulsory student services fees
1-12 collected from a student at an institution of higher education
1-13 other than The University of Texas at Austin, The University of
1-14 Texas at El Paso, or a component institution of the University of
1-15 Houston System for any one semester or summer session shall not
1-16 exceed $150. The total of all compulsory student services fees
1-17 collected from a student at The University of Texas at El Paso may
1-18 not exceed $250. All compulsory student services fees charged and
1-19 collected under this section by the governing board of an
1-20 institution of higher education, other than a public junior
1-21 college, shall be assessed in proportion to the number of semester
1-22 credit hours for which a student registers. No portion of the
1-23 compulsory fees collected may be expended for parking facilities or
1-24 services, except as related to providing shuttle bus services.
2-1 SECTION 2. Section 54.535(a), Education Code, is amended to
2-2 read as follows:
2-3 (a) The board of regents of The University of Texas System
2-4 may levy a student union fee not to exceed $30 per student for each
2-5 regular semester or each summer session of nine weeks or more, and
2-6 not to exceed $15 per student for each [term of the] summer session
2-7 of less than nine weeks, for the sole purpose of financing,
2-8 constructing, operating, maintaining, and improving a student union
2-9 building for The University of Texas at El Paso; provided, however,
2-10 that the fee may not be increased above $15 per student for each
2-11 regular semester or each summer session of nine weeks or more and
2-12 $7.50 per student for each [term of the] summer session of less
2-13 than nine weeks unless the increase is approved by a majority vote
2-14 of those students participating in a general election. The fees
2-15 herein authorized to be levied are in addition to any use or
2-16 service fee now or hereafter authorized to be levied.
2-17 SECTION 3. Subchapter A, Chapter 69, Education Code, is
2-18 amended by adding Section 69.03 to read as follows:
2-19 Sec. 69.03. COURSES AND DEGREES. (a) The board, with the
2-20 approval of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, may
2-21 prescribe courses leading to customary degrees as are offered at
2-22 leading American educational institutions and may award those
2-23 degrees.
2-24 (b) The degrees offered by the university may include
2-25 baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral degrees and their
2-26 equivalents.
2-27 SECTION 4. Subchapter B, Chapter 69, Education Code, is
3-1 amended by adding Section 69.23 to read as follows:
3-2 Sec. 69.23. GIFTS AND GRANTS. The board may accept and
3-3 administer gifts and grants from any public or private person or
3-4 entity for the use and benefit of the university.
3-5 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
3-6 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-7 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-8 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-9 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-10 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-11 passage, and it is so enacted.