By: Barrientos S.B. No. 947
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the authority of the board of regents of The University
1-2 of Texas System to increase the student union fee at The University
1-3 of Texas at Austin and to the use of the student union fee.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 54.530, Education Code,
1-6 is amended to read as follows:
1-7 (a) The board of regents of The University of Texas System
1-8 may levy and collect from each student a compulsory fee for
1-9 operating, maintaining, improving, equipping, and/or constructing
1-10 additions to the existing Texas Union building near Guadalupe
1-11 Street. Unless the board increases the amount as provided by this
1-12 subsection, the fee may not [to] exceed $33 for each regular
1-13 semester and $16.50 for each term of each summer session. The
1-14 money collected from the[, with such] fees shall [to] be deposited
1-15 to an account known as the Texas Union Fee Account. With the
1-16 concurrence of the student fees advisory committee, the board may
1-17 increase the amount of the[; this] fee [may be raised] to an amount
1-18 that is not more than 10 percent of the amount imposed in the
1-19 preceding academic year. The board may increase the amount of the
1-20 fee to an amount that is more than 10 percent of the amount imposed
1-21 in the preceding academic year [not to exceed $40 for each regular
1-22 semester and $20 for each term of each summer session] if that
1-23 increase in the fee is approved by a majority vote of those
1-24 students participating in a general election called for that
2-1 purpose. However, the board may not increase the amount of the fee
2-2 to an amount that is more than $50 for each regular semester and
2-3 $30 for each term of each summer session. The activities of said
2-4 Texas Union building financed in whole or in part by the [this] fee
2-5 shall be limited to those activities in which the entire student
2-6 body is eligible to participate, and in no event shall any of the
2-7 activities so financed be held outside of the territorial limits of
2-8 the campus of The University of Texas at Austin.
2-9 SECTION 2. (a) A review panel consisting of three members
2-10 appointed under this section and financed by the office of the vice
2-11 president for student affairs at The University of Texas at Austin
2-12 shall conduct an external review of the operation of the Texas
2-13 Union to ensure the appropriate use of the student union fee
2-14 imposed by Section 54.530, Education Code. The review shall
2-15 include an examination of management decisions and other areas
2-16 relating to the operation of the Texas Union as necessary. Not
2-17 later than the first day of the 2000 fall semester, the review
2-18 panel shall make to the Board of Directors of the Texas Union
2-19 related recommendations on ways to improve the facilities and
2-20 operations of the Texas Union.
2-21 (b) The vice president for student affairs at The University
2-22 of Texas at Austin shall compile a list of seven proposed members
2-23 of the review panel, which must consist of current or former
2-24 student union directors, associate student union directors, or
2-25 college or university vice presidents with student union
2-26 experience. A proposed member of the review panel may have
3-1 acquired the necessary union experience at a college or university
3-2 in or outside of this state. The vice president for student
3-3 affairs may not serve on the review panel.
3-4 (c) The vice president for student affairs at The University
3-5 of Texas at Austin shall submit the list to a student committee
3-6 consisting of five representatives to the Student Assembly of The
3-7 University of Texas at Austin, to be selected by the Student
3-8 Assembly. The student committee shall select three persons from
3-9 the list submitted by the vice president for student affairs to
3-10 constitute the review panel. If a vacancy occurs on the review
3-11 panel, the student committee shall select another person from the
3-12 list to fill the vacant position. The selections of the student
3-13 committee, including any replacement selections, are final unless a
3-14 proposed member is unable to serve, in which event the student
3-15 committee shall select a replacement.
3-16 (d) If, at any time, the list of proposed members of the
3-17 review panel consists of fewer than five persons, the vice
3-18 president for student affairs at The University of Texas at Austin
3-19 shall submit to the student committee additional names as necessary
3-20 to restore the list of proposed members to seven.
3-21 (e) This section expires January 1, 2001.
3-22 SECTION 3. Section 1 of this Act applies beginning with the
3-23 1999 fall semester and applies to fees charged on or after that
3-24 date. Fees charged before the 1999 fall semester are governed by
3-25 the law in effect at the time the fees are charged, and that law is
3-26 continued in effect for that purpose.
4-1 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
4-2 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-3 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-4 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-5 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-6 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-7 passage, and it is so enacted.