AN ACT
 1-1     relating to defining a private or independent institution of higher
 1-2     education.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Subdivision (15), Section 61.003, Education Code,
 1-5     is amended to read as follows:
 1-6                 (15)  "Private or independent institution of higher
 1-7     education" includes only a private or independent college or
 1-8     university that is:
 1-9                       (A)  organized under the Texas Non-Profit
1-10     Corporation Act (Article 1396-1.01 et seq., Vernon's Texas Civil
1-11     Statutes);
1-12                       (B)  exempt from taxation under Article VIII,
1-13     Section 2, of the Texas Constitution and Section 501(c)(3) of the
1-14     Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. Section 501); and
1-15                       (C)  accredited by the Commission on Colleges of
1-16     the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools or the Liaison
1-17     Committee on Medical Education [a recognized accrediting agency].
1-18           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-19     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-20     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-21     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-22     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-23     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-24     passage, and it is so enacted.
         _______________________________     _______________________________
             President of the Senate              Speaker of the House
               I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1861 passed the Senate on
         May 4, 1999, by the following vote:  Yeas 30, Nays 0.
                                             _______________________________
                                                 Secretary of the Senate
               I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1861 passed the House on
         May 19, 1999, by the following vote:  Yeas 143, Nays 0, two present
         not voting.
                                             _______________________________
                                                 Chief Clerk of the House
         Approved:
         _______________________________
                     Date
         _______________________________
                   Governor