1-1     By:  Villarreal (Senate Sponsor - Shapleigh)          H.B. No. 1799
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 30, 2001;
 1-3     April 30, 2001, read first time and referred to Committee on
 1-4     Education; May 3, 2001, reported favorably by the following vote:
 1-5     Yeas 8, Nays 0; May 3, 2001, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to long-range planning for higher education.
 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10           SECTION 1.  Section 61.051, Education Code, is amended by
1-11     adding Subsection (i) to read as follows:
1-12           (i)  The board shall develop and periodically revise a
1-13     long-range statewide plan to provide information and guidance to
1-14     policy makers to ensure that institutions of higher education meet
1-15     the current and future needs of each region of this state for
1-16     higher education services and that adequate higher education
1-17     services at all levels are reasonably and equally available to the
1-18     residents of each region of this state.  The board in developing
1-19     the plan shall examine existing undergraduate, graduate,
1-20     professional, and research programs provided by institutions of
1-21     higher education and identify the geographic areas of this state
1-22     that, as a result of current population or projected population
1-23     growth, distance from other educational resources, economic trends,
1-24     or other factors, have or are reasonably likely to have in the
1-25     future significantly greater need for higher education services
1-26     than the services currently provided in the area by existing
1-27     institutions of higher education.  The board shall also consider
1-28     the higher education services provided by private and independent
1-29     institutions of higher education in developing the plan.  The board
1-30     shall identify as specifically as practicable the programs or
1-31     fields of study for which an area has or is projected to have a
1-32     significant unmet need for services.  In determining the need for
1-33     higher educational services in an area, the board shall consider
1-34     the educational attainment of the current population and the extent
1-35     to which residents from the area attend institutions of higher
1-36     education outside of the area or do not attend institutions of
1-37     higher education.  The board shall include in the plan specific
1-38     recommendations, including alternative recommendations, for
1-39     administrative or legislative action to address an area's unmet
1-40     need for higher educational services as efficiently as possible.
1-41     Not later than November 1 of each even-numbered year, the board
1-42     shall deliver to the governor, lieutenant governor, and legislature
1-43     a report of the current long-range plan developed under this
1-44     section.
1-45           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
1-46     a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
1-47     provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
1-48     Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
1-49     Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
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