By:  Barrientos                                       S.B. No. 1765
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to certain fees charged at certain institutions of higher
 1-2     education.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Subchapter E, Chapter 54, Education Code, is
 1-5     amended by adding Section 54.5372 to read as follows:
 1-6           Sec. 54.5372.  AQUATICS CENTER FEE; THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
 1-7     AT AUSTIN.  (a)  The board of regents of The University of Texas
 1-8     System may charge each student enrolled at The University of Texas
 1-9     at Austin a fee not to exceed 85 cents per credit hour per
1-10     semester.  The fee may be used for financing, constructing,
1-11     renovating, operating, maintaining, and improving an aquatics
1-12     center at the Gregory Gymnasium complex.
1-13           (b)  The board of regents shall prorate the fee allowed under
1-14     this section based on the length of the semester or term for which
1-15     the student is enrolled.
1-16           (c)  The university shall collect the fee imposed under this
1-17     section and use it only for the purposes described in this section.
1-18           (d)  A fee under this section may not be collected until the
1-19     semester in which the aquatics center has been substantially
1-20     completed and is made available for use.
1-21           (e)  The board of regents may pledge fees collected under
1-22     this section for the payment of obligations issued for authorized
1-23     purposes pursuant to the revenue financing system of The University
1-24     of Texas System.
 2-1           (f)  The fees collected under this section shall not be
 2-2     counted in determining the maximum student services fee which may
 2-3     be charged to students of The University of Texas at Austin under
 2-4     this subchapter.
 2-5           SECTION 2.  This Act applies beginning with fees due for the
 2-6     1999 fall semester.
 2-7           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-8     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-9     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-10     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-11     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-12     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-13     passage, and it is so enacted.