1-1     By:  Naishtat, Kitchen (Senate Sponsor - Barrientos)  H.B. No. 2279
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 23, 2001;
 1-3     April 24, 2001, read first time and referred to Committee on
 1-4     Education; May 10, 2001, reported favorably by the following vote:
 1-5     Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 10, 2001, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the exemption from the payment of higher education
 1-9     tuition and fees for certain recipients of Temporary Assistance for
1-10     Needy Families benefits.
1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12           SECTION 1. Section 54.212, Education Code, is amended to read
1-13     as follows:
1-14           Sec. 54.212.  ONE-YEAR EXEMPTION FOR CERTAIN TANF [AFDC]
1-15     STUDENTS.  A student is exempt from the payment of tuition and fees
1-16     authorized by this chapter for the first academic year in which the
1-17     student enrolls at an institution of higher education if the
1-18     student:
1-19                 (1)  graduated from a public high school in this state;
1-20                 (2)  successfully completed the attendance requirements
1-21     under Section 21.032;
1-22                 (3)  during the student's last year of public high
1-23     school in this state, was a dependent child receiving financial
1-24     assistance under Chapter 31, Human Resources Code, for not less
1-25     than six months;
1-26                 (4)  is younger than 22 years of age on the date of
1-27     enrollment;
1-28                 (5)  enrolls at the institution as an undergraduate
1-29     student not later than the second [first] anniversary of the date
1-30     of graduation from a public high school in this state;
1-31                 (6)  has met the entrance examination requirements of
1-32     the institution before the date of enrollment; and
1-33                 (7)  is classified as a resident under Subchapter B.
1-34           SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies
1-35     beginning with tuition and fees charged for the 2001 fall semester.
1-36           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
1-37     a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
1-38     provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
1-39     Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
1-40     Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
1-41                                  * * * * *