1-1 By: Bivins S.B. No. 345
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed February 2, 1999; February 4, 1999,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Education;
1-4 February 15, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
1-5 Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0;
1-6 February 15, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 345 By: Bivins
1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-9 AN ACT
1-10 relating to the formula funding and tuition charged for certain
1-11 excess credit hours of undergraduate students attending
1-12 institutions of higher education.
1-13 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-14 SECTION 1. Section 61.0595, Education Code, is amended by
1-15 amending Subsections (a), (b), and (d) and adding Subsection (e) to
1-16 read as follows:
1-17 (a) In the formulas established under Section 61.059, the
1-18 board may not include funding for semester credit hours earned by a
1-19 resident undergraduate student who before the semester or other
1-20 academic session begins has previously attempted a number of [170
1-21 or more] semester credit hours for courses taken at any institution
1-22 of higher education while classified as a resident student for
1-23 tuition purposes that exceeds by at least 45 hours the number of
1-24 semester credit hours required for completion of the degree program
1-25 in which the student is enrolled.
1-26 (b) For purposes of Subsection (a), an undergraduate student
1-27 who is not enrolled in a degree program is considered to be
1-28 enrolled in a degree program requiring a minimum of 120 semester
1-29 credit hours [Subsection (a) does not apply to a student enrolled
1-30 in:]
1-31 [(1) two or more baccalaureate degree programs at the
1-32 same time;]
1-33 [(2) a double major degree program that requires 130
1-34 or more semester credits for completion; or]
1-35 [(3) a health professional baccalaureate degree
1-36 program].
1-37 (d) The following are not counted for purposes of
1-38 determining whether the student has previously earned the number of
1-39 semester credit hours specified by Subsection (a):
1-40 (1) semester credit hours earned by the student before
1-41 receiving a baccalaureate degree that has previously been awarded
1-42 to the student;
1-43 (2) semester credit hours earned by the student by
1-44 examination or under any other procedure by which credit is earned
1-45 without registering for a course for which tuition is charged;
1-46 (3) credit for a remedial education course, a
1-47 technical course, a workforce education course funded according to
1-48 contact hours, or another course that does not count toward the
1-49 student's [a] degree program at the institution; and
1-50 (4) semester credit hours earned by the student at a
1-51 private institution or an out-of-state institution.
1-52 (e) Subsection (a) does not apply to funding for semester
1-53 credit hours earned by a student who initially enrolled as an
1-54 undergraduate student in any institution of higher education before
1-55 the 1999 fall semester. In the formulas established under Section
1-56 61.059, the board shall include funding for those semester credit
1-57 hours without consideration of Subsection (a).
1-58 SECTION 2. Section 54.068, Education Code, is amended to
1-59 read as follows:
1-60 Sec. 54.068. TUITION FOR EXCESSIVE UNDERGRADUATE HOURS.
1-61 (a) An institution of higher education may charge a resident
1-62 undergraduate student tuition at a higher rate than the rate
1-63 charged to other resident undergraduate students, not to exceed the
1-64 rate charged to nonresident undergraduate students, if before the
2-1 semester or other academic session begins the student has
2-2 previously attempted a number of semester credit hours for courses
2-3 taken at any institution of higher education while classified as a
2-4 resident student for tuition purposes that exceeds by at least 45
2-5 hours the number of semester credit hours required for completion
2-6 of the degree program in which the student is enrolled. For
2-7 purposes of this subsection, an undergraduate student who is not
2-8 enrolled in a degree program is considered to be enrolled in a
2-9 degree program requiring a minimum of 120 semester credit hours
2-10 [for a course for which Section 61.0595 requires the coordinating
2-11 board to exclude funding for the semester credit hours for which
2-12 the student registers if the student has previously attempted 170
2-13 or more semester credit hours].
2-14 (b) Semester credit hours or other credit listed in Section
2-15 61.0595(d) is not counted in determining the number of semester
2-16 credit hours previously attempted by a student for purposes of
2-17 Subsection (a).
2-18 (c) Subsection (a) does not apply to the tuition charged to
2-19 a student who initially enrolled as an undergraduate student in an
2-20 institution of higher education before the 1999 fall semester.
2-21 (d) In its appropriations to institutions of higher
2-22 education, the legislature shall compute the local funds available
2-23 to each institution as if the tuition collected under Subsection
2-24 (a) [this section] were not collected.
2-25 (e) Notwithstanding Subsection (d), in its appropriations to
2-26 institutions of higher education for the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001
2-27 state fiscal years the legislature may not include funding for
2-28 semester credit hours attributable to enrollment growth for the
2-29 1997-1998 and 1998-1999 academic years to be earned in the
2-30 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 academic years by resident students who are
2-31 charged the resident tuition rate for those hours but who would
2-32 have been subject to tuition for those hours at a higher rate than
2-33 the rate charged to other resident students, as permitted by this
2-34 section, if this section as it existed on January 1, 1999, were
2-35 applicable to those academic years. This subsection expires
2-36 January 1, 2002.
2-37 SECTION 3. (a) The change in law made by this Act to
2-38 Section 61.0595, Education Code, applies beginning with the funding
2-39 recommendations made under Section 61.059, Education Code, for the
2-40 2001-2002 academic year.
2-41 (b) Section 54.068, Education Code, as amended by this Act,
2-42 applies beginning with tuition charged for the 1999 fall semester
2-43 as provided by Section 3.02, Chapter 1073, Acts of the 75th
2-44 Legislature, Regular Session, 1997.
2-45 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-46 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-47 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-48 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-49 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-50 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-51 passage, and it is so enacted.
2-52 * * * * *