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 for or after that
3-24     semester.  Fees charged before the 1999 fall semester are governed
3-25     by the law in effect at the time the fees are charged, and that law
3-26     is continued in effect for that purpose.
                                                                S.B. No. 947
 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.
         ________________________________   ________________________________
             President of the Senate              Speaker of the House
               I hereby certify that S.B. No. 947 passed the Senate on
         May 5, 1999, by the following vote:  Yeas 28, Nays 1; May 28, 1999,
         Senate refused to concur in House amendment and requested
         appointment of Conference Committee; May 29, 1999, House granted
         request of the Senate; May 30, 1999, Senate adopted Conference
         Committee Report by a viva-voce vote.
                                             _______________________________
                                                 Secretary of the Senate
               I hereby certify that S.B. No. 947 passed the House, with
         amendment, on May 25, 1999, by the following vote:  Yeas 145,
         Nays 0, two present not voting; May 29, 1999, House granted request
         of the Senate for appointment of Conference Committee;
         May 30, 1999, House adopted Conference Committee Report by the
         following vote:  Yeas 141, Nays 4, one present not voting.
                                             _______________________________
                                                 Chief Clerk of the House
         Approved:
         ________________________________
                      Date
         ________________________________
                    Governor