1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the exemption from the payment of higher education
 1-3     tuition and fees for certain recipients of Temporary Assistance for
 1-4     Needy Families benefits.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1. Section 54.212, Education Code, is amended to read
 1-7     as follows:
 1-8           Sec. 54.212.  ONE-YEAR EXEMPTION FOR CERTAIN TANF [AFDC]
 1-9     STUDENTS.  A student is exempt from the payment of tuition and fees
1-10     authorized by this chapter for the first academic year in which the
1-11     student enrolls at an institution of higher education if the
1-12     student:
1-13                 (1)  graduated from a public high school in this state;
1-14                 (2)  successfully completed the attendance requirements
1-15     under Section 21.032;
1-16                 (3)  during the student's last year of public high
1-17     school in this state, was a dependent child receiving financial
1-18     assistance under Chapter 31, Human Resources Code, for not less
1-19     than six months;
1-20                 (4)  is younger than 22 years of age on the date of
1-21     enrollment;
1-22                 (5)  enrolls at the institution as an undergraduate
1-23     student not later than the second [first] anniversary of the date
1-24     of graduation from a public high school in this state;
 2-1                 (6)  has met the entrance examination requirements of
 2-2     the institution before the date of enrollment; and
 2-3                 (7)  is classified as a resident under Subchapter B.
 2-4           SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies
 2-5     beginning with tuition and fees charged for the 2001 fall semester.
 2-6           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
 2-7     a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
 2-8     provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
 2-9     Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
2-10     Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
         _______________________________     _______________________________
             President of the Senate              Speaker of the House
               I certify that H.B. No. 2279 was passed by the House on April
         20, 2001, by the following vote:  Yeas 142, Nays 0, 2 present, not
         voting.
                                             _______________________________
                                                 Chief Clerk of the House
               I certify that H.B. No. 2279 was passed by the Senate on May
         22, 2001, by the following vote:  Yeas 30, Nays 0, 1 present, not
         voting.
                                             _______________________________
                                                 Secretary of the Senate
         APPROVED:  __________________________
                              Date
                    __________________________
                            Governor