By Moncrief                                            S.B. No. 332
         76R4452 JSA-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to authorizing institutions of higher education to impose
 1-3     a fee to support Washington, D.C., internships and abolishing the
 1-4     Texas-Washington, D.C., intern scholarship program.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Subchapter E, Chapter 54, Education Code, is
 1-7     amended by adding Section 54.5134 to read as follows:
 1-8           Sec. 54.5134.  WASHINGTON, D.C., INTERNSHIP EDUCATION FEE.
 1-9     (a)  The governing board of an institution of higher education may
1-10     charge and collect from each student registered at the institution
1-11     a fee in an amount not to exceed $1 for each semester or summer
1-12     session.
1-13           (b)  Revenue from a fee imposed under this section shall be
1-14     deposited in a fund established by the institution outside the
1-15     state treasury and identified as the institution's Washington,
1-16     D.C., internship financial aid fund.  Money in the fund may be used
1-17     only to assist a student participating in a Washington, D.C.,
1-18     internship program administered, sponsored, or approved by the
1-19     institution.
1-20           (c)  The fund shall be used in accordance with guidelines
1-21     jointly developed by the student governing body of the institution
1-22     and the administration of the institution.  If the institution does
1-23     not have a student governing body, the president may appoint a
1-24     committee of students to assist with the development of the
 2-1     guidelines.
 2-2           (d)  A fee imposed under this section may not be considered
 2-3     in determining the maximum amount of student services fees that may
 2-4     be charged a student enrolled at the institution under Section
 2-5     54.503(b).
 2-6           SECTION 2.  (a)  Subchapter L, Chapter 56, Education Code, is
 2-7     repealed.
 2-8           (b)  The repeal made by this section does not affect a grant
 2-9     awarded under that subchapter before the effective date of this
2-10     section or the completion of the internship pursuant to the grant,
2-11     and the repealed law remains in effect for that purpose.
2-12           SECTION 3.  (a)  Section 1 of this Act applies beginning with
2-13     the 1999 fall semester.
2-14           (b)  Section 2 of this Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-15           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-16     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-17     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-18     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-19     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-20     and that this Act take effect and be in force according to its
2-21     terms, and it is so enacted.