1-1     By:  Shapleigh                                         S.B. No. 599
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed February 8, 2001; February 12, 2001,
 1-3     read first time and referred to Committee on Education;
 1-4     April 20, 2001, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
 1-5     Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 8, Nays 0; April 20, 2001,
 1-6     sent to printer.)
 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 599                   By:  Sibley
 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-9                                   AN ACT
1-10     relating to long-range planning for higher education.
1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12           SECTION 1.  Section 61.051, Education Code, is amended by
1-13     adding Subsection (i) to read as follows:
1-14           (i)  The board shall develop and periodically revise a
1-15     long-range statewide plan to provide information and guidance to
1-16     policy makers to ensure that institutions of higher education meet
1-17     the current and future needs of each region of this state for
1-18     higher education services and that adequate higher education
1-19     services at all levels are reasonably and equally available to the
1-20     residents of each region of this state.  The board in developing
1-21     the plan shall examine existing undergraduate, graduate,
1-22     professional, and research programs provided by institutions of
1-23     higher education and identify the geographic areas of this state
1-24     that, as a result of current population or projected population
1-25     growth, distance from other educational resources, economic trends,
1-26     or other factors, have or are reasonably likely to have in the
1-27     future significantly greater need for higher education services
1-28     than the services currently provided in the area by existing
1-29     institutions of higher education.  The board shall also consider
1-30     the higher education services provided by private and independent
1-31     institutions of higher education in developing the plan.  The board
1-32     shall identify as specifically as practicable the programs or
1-33     fields of study for which an area has or is projected to have a
1-34     significant unmet need for services.  In determining the need for
1-35     higher educational services in an area, the board shall consider
1-36     the educational attainment of the current population and the extent
1-37     to which residents from the area attend institutions of higher
1-38     education outside of the area or do not attend institutions of
1-39     higher education.  The board shall include in the plan specific
1-40     recommendations, including alternative recommendations, for
1-41     administrative or legislative action to address an area's unmet
1-42     need for higher educational services as efficiently as possible.
1-43     Not later than November 1 of each even-numbered year, the board
1-44     shall deliver to the governor, lieutenant governor, and legislature
1-45     a report of the current long-range plan developed under this
1-46     section.
1-47           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
1-48     a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
1-49     provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
1-50     Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
1-51     Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
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