1-1 By: Barrientos S.B. No. 947
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed March 5, 1999; March 8, 1999, read
1-3 first time and referred to Committee on Education; April 12, 1999,
1-4 reported adversely, with favorable Committee Substitute by the
1-5 following vote: Yeas 5, Nays 0; April 12, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-6 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 947 By: Nelson
1-7 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-8 AN ACT
1-9 relating to the authority of the board of regents of The University
1-10 of Texas System to increase the student union fee at The University
1-11 of Texas at Austin and to the use of the student union fee.
1-12 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-13 SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 54.530, Education Code,
1-14 is amended to read as follows:
1-15 (a) The board of regents of The University of Texas System
1-16 may levy and collect from each student a compulsory fee for
1-17 operating, maintaining, improving, equipping, and/or constructing
1-18 additions to the existing Texas Union building near Guadalupe
1-19 Street. Unless the board increases the amount as provided by this
1-20 subsection, the fee may not [to] exceed $33 for each regular
1-21 semester and $16.50 for each term of each summer session. The
1-22 money collected from the[, with such] fees shall [to] be deposited
1-23 to an account known as the Texas Union Fee Account. With the
1-24 concurrence of the student fees advisory committee, the board may
1-25 increase the amount of the[; this] fee [may be raised] to an amount
1-26 that is not more than 10 percent of the amount imposed in the
1-27 preceding academic year. The board may increase the amount of the
1-28 fee to an amount that is more than 10 percent of the amount imposed
1-29 in the preceding academic year [not to exceed $40 for each regular
1-30 semester and $20 for each term of each summer session] if that
1-31 increase in the fee is approved by a majority vote of those
1-32 students participating in a general election called for that
1-33 purpose. However, the board may not increase the amount of the fee
1-34 to an amount that is more than $50 for each regular semester and
1-35 $30 for each term of each summer session. The activities of said
1-36 Texas Union building financed in whole or in part by the [this] fee
1-37 shall be limited to those activities in which the entire student
1-38 body is eligible to participate, and in no event shall any of the
1-39 activities so financed be held outside of the territorial limits of
1-40 the campus of The University of Texas at Austin.
1-41 SECTION 2. (a) A review panel consisting of three members
1-42 appointed under this section and financed by the office of the vice
1-43 president for student affairs at The University of Texas at Austin
1-44 shall conduct an external review of the operation of the Texas
1-45 Union to ensure the appropriate use of the student union fee
1-46 imposed by Section 54.530, Education Code. The review shall
1-47 include an examination of management decisions and other areas
1-48 relating to the operation of the Texas Union as necessary. Not
1-49 later than the first day of the 2000 fall semester, the review
1-50 panel shall make to the Board of Directors of the Texas Union
1-51 related recommendations on ways to improve the facilities and
1-52 operations of the Texas Union.
1-53 (b) The vice president for student affairs at The University
1-54 of Texas at Austin shall compile a list of seven proposed members
1-55 of the review panel, which must consist of current or former
1-56 student union directors, associate student union directors, or
1-57 college or university vice presidents with student union
1-58 experience. A proposed member of the review panel may have
1-59 acquired the necessary union experience at a college or university
1-60 in or outside of this state. The vice president for student
1-61 affairs may not serve on the review panel.
1-62 (c) The vice president for student affairs at The University
1-63 of Texas at Austin shall submit the list to a student committee
1-64 consisting of five representatives to the Student Assembly of The
2-1 University of Texas at Austin, to be selected by the Student
2-2 Assembly. The student committee shall select three persons from
2-3 the list submitted by the vice president for student affairs to
2-4 constitute the review panel. If a vacancy occurs on the review
2-5 panel, the student committee shall select another person from the
2-6 list to fill the vacant position. The selections of the student
2-7 committee, including any replacement selections, are final unless a
2-8 proposed member is unable to serve, in which event the student
2-9 committee shall select a replacement.
2-10 (d) If, at any time, the list of proposed members of the
2-11 review panel consists of fewer than five persons, the vice
2-12 president for student affairs at The University of Texas at Austin
2-13 shall submit to the student committee additional names as necessary
2-14 to restore the list of proposed members to seven.
2-15 (e) This section expires January 1, 2001.
2-16 SECTION 3. Section 1 of this Act applies beginning with the
2-17 1999 fall semester and applies to fees charged on or after that
2-18 date. Fees charged before the 1999 fall semester are governed by
2-19 the law in effect at the time the fees are charged, and that law is
2-20 continued in effect for that purpose.
2-21 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-22 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-23 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-24 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-25 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-26 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-27 passage, and it is so enacted.
2-28 * * * * *