76R16116 KEL-D
By Barrientos S.B. No. 947
Substitute the following for S.B. No. 947:
By Jones of Dallas C.S.S.B. No. 947
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the authority of the board of regents of The University
1-3 of Texas System to increase the student union fee at The University
1-4 of Texas at Austin and to the use of the student union fee.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 54.530, Education Code,
1-7 is amended to read as follows:
1-8 (a) The board of regents of The University of Texas System
1-9 may levy and collect from each student a compulsory fee for
1-10 operating, maintaining, improving, equipping, and/or constructing
1-11 additions to the existing Texas Union building near Guadalupe
1-12 Street. Unless a higher maximum amount is approved as provided by
1-13 this subsection, the fee may not [to] exceed $33 for each regular
1-14 semester and $16.50 for each term of each summer session. The
1-15 money collected from the[, with such] fees shall [to] be deposited
1-16 to an account known as the Texas Union Fee Account. With the
1-17 concurrence of the student fees advisory committee, the board may
1-18 increase the amount of the[; this] fee [may be raised] to an amount
1-19 that is not more than 10 percent of the amount imposed in the
1-20 preceding academic year if that method for increasing the amount of
1-21 the fee has been approved by a majority vote of those students
1-22 participating in a general election called for that purpose. The
1-23 board may increase the amount of the fee to an amount that is more
2-1 than 10 percent of the amount imposed in the preceding academic
2-2 year [not to exceed $40 for each regular semester and $20 for each
2-3 term of each summer session] if that increase in the fee is
2-4 approved by a majority vote of those students participating in a
2-5 general election called for that purpose. The board may increase
2-6 the amount of the fee to an amount that is more than $33 but not
2-7 more than $50 for each regular semester, and more than $16.50 but
2-8 not more than $30 for each term of each summer session, but only if
2-9 the maximum amount has been approved by a majority vote of those
2-10 students participating in a general election called for that
2-11 purpose. The activities of said Texas Union building financed in
2-12 whole or in part by the [this] fee shall be limited to those
2-13 activities in which the entire student body is eligible to
2-14 participate, and in no event shall any of the activities so
2-15 financed be held outside of the territorial limits of the campus of
2-16 The University of Texas at Austin.
2-17 SECTION 2. (a) A review panel consisting of three members
2-18 appointed under this section and financed by the office of the vice
2-19 president for student affairs at The University of Texas at Austin
2-20 shall conduct an external review of the operation of the Texas
2-21 Union to ensure the appropriate use of the student union fee
2-22 imposed by Section 54.530, Education Code. The review shall
2-23 include an examination of management decisions and other areas
2-24 relating to the operation of the Texas Union as necessary. Not
2-25 later than the first day of the 2000 fall semester, the review
2-26 panel shall make to the Board of Directors of the Texas Union
2-27 related recommendations on ways to improve the facilities and
3-1 operations of the Texas Union.
3-2 (b) The vice president for student affairs at The University
3-3 of Texas at Austin shall compile a list of seven proposed members
3-4 of the review panel, which must consist of current or former
3-5 student union directors, associate student union directors, or
3-6 college or university vice presidents with student union
3-7 experience. A proposed member of the review panel may have
3-8 acquired the necessary union experience at a college or university
3-9 in or outside of this state. The vice president for student
3-10 affairs may not serve on the review panel.
3-11 (c) The vice president for student affairs at The University
3-12 of Texas at Austin shall submit the list to a student committee
3-13 consisting of five representatives to the Student Assembly of The
3-14 University of Texas at Austin, to be selected by the Student
3-15 Assembly. The student committee shall select three persons from
3-16 the list submitted by the vice president for student affairs to
3-17 constitute the review panel. If a vacancy occurs on the review
3-18 panel, the student committee shall select another person from the
3-19 list to fill the vacant position. The selections of the student
3-20 committee, including any replacement selections, are final unless a
3-21 proposed member is unable to serve, in which event the student
3-22 committee shall select a replacement.
3-23 (d) If, at any time, the list of proposed members of the
3-24 review panel consists of fewer than five persons, the vice
3-25 president for student affairs at The University of Texas at Austin
3-26 shall submit to the student committee additional names as necessary
3-27 to restore the list of proposed members to seven.
4-1 (e) This section expires January 1, 2001.
4-2 SECTION 3. Section 1 of this Act applies beginning with the
4-3 1999 fall semester and applies to fees charged on or after that
4-4 date. Fees charged before the 1999 fall semester are governed by
4-5 the law in effect at the time the fees are charged, and that law is
4-6 continued in effect for that purpose.
4-7 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
4-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-10 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-11 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-12 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-13 passage, and it is so enacted.