LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session
April 4, 2001
TO: Honorable Irma Rangel, Chair, House Committee on Higher
Education
FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE: HB1361 by Gray (Relating to the reduction of the
shortage of registered nurses by establishing a program
to increase enrollments in nursing education programs,
increasing nursing faculty, and creating a nursing
workforce data center. ), Committee Report 1st House,
Substituted
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* Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for *
* HB1361, Committee Report 1st House, Substituted: negative impact *
* of $(5,013,000) through the biennium ending August 31, 2003. *
* *
* The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal *
* basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of *
* the bill. *
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General Revenue-Related Funds, Five-Year Impact:
****************************************************
* Fiscal Year Probable Net Positive/(Negative) *
* Impact to General Revenue Related *
* Funds *
* 2002 $(2,389,000) *
* 2003 (2,624,000) *
* 2004 (10,456,200) *
* 2005 (10,735,300) *
* 2006 (11,039,810) *
****************************************************
All Funds, Five-Year Impact:
***************************************************************************
*Fiscal Probable Savings/(Cost) from Probable Revenue Gain/(Loss) *
* Year General Revenue Fund from Estimated Other *
* 0001 Educational and General Income *
* Account/ GR-Dedicated *
* 0770 *
* 2002 $(2,389,000) $(639,000) *
* 2003 (2,624,000) (639,000) *
* 2004 (10,456,200) (639,000) *
* 2005 (10,735,300) (639,000) *
* 2006 (11,039,810) (639,000) *
***************************************************************************
Fiscal Analysis
The bill establishes a program to increase enrollments in nursing
education institutions, increase nurse faculty, and create a nursing
workforce data center to address issues of supply and demand for nursing
in Texas.
The bill establishes a program administered by the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board (THECB) to make grants to professional nursing
education programs. The bill permits higher education institutions to
offer in-state tuition and fees (non-resident tuition waivers) to
licensed nurses seeking master's or doctoral level nursing degrees who
intend to teach in a Texas professional nursing education program.
The bill allows the THECB to establish multiple categories of persons to
receive awards from scholarships, the matching fund program, or loan
repayment program, and could authorize faculty with master's degrees or
doctorates to receive loan repayments.
Not more than ten percent of any funds appropriated by the legislature to
fund these programs could be used by the THECB to pay program
administrative costs.
The Nursing Workforce Data Center would be established by the Board of
Nurse Examiners (BNE). BNE may contract with public or private entities
to perform the responsibilities of the center. The bill requires that
BNE appoint an executive committee to be the policy making body for the
data center. Data collected by the center is not subject to disclosure
under open records law.
Not more than five percent of any funds appropriated to fund the Nursing
Workforce Data Center could be used by the BNE to pay for administrative
costs of the Center. BNE would not be obliged to implement the data
center unless funds are appropriated for that purpose.
This bill takes effect September 1, 2001.
Methodology
THECB assumes that in fiscal year 2002, $750,000 would be awarded to
institutions to develop programs to improve nursing recruitment and
retention, based on 25 awards at an average of $30,000 each. A ten
percent increase in award funding per year is anticipated.
There is currently a loan repayment program and scholarship program with
an annual combined budget of $400,000. Based on current rules, repayment
awards can be made in the amount of $2,000 each. This analysis assumes
that 50 repayment awards would be made to practicing nurses/nurse faculty
in the first year, with a ten percent increase in the number of awards
each year. It is estimated that 500 scholarships would be awarded in the
first year at an average of $2,500 per scholarship, and that scholarship
awards would increase ten percent per year. The total cost for
repayments and scholarships in the first year would be $950,000, net of
the $400,000 current budget.
The estimate for providing matching funds assumes ten students would
receive $5,000 per year to be matched by the sponsor, and that five
additional students per year would participate in the matching program.
The first year's cost of the matching program would be $50,000.
The option available to institutions to waive non-resident tuition would
result in a reduction in tuition revenue of $639,000 per year, based on
the difference between resident and non-resident tuition for 30 semester
credit hours and assuming 100 students would seek waivers. An equivalent
amount of general revenue funds would be needed to reimburse
institutions for the loss of tuition revenue. This analysis assumes that
the institutions would not use the option to collect repayment of the
tuition waiver if the student does not choose to teach in a Texas nursing
program.
According to THECB, the Texas Nursing Association estimates that these
programs could result in an additional 1,403 students entering
professional nursing programs annually. THECB assumes that half of
these students would transfer into nursing from other fields of study
and that the other half would be students not currently enrolled in
higher education. Additional costs are estimated at $3,600 per student
transferring from another field of study and $7,200 per student entering
the nursing program from outside higher education. Based on these
assumptions, the additional cost for 1,403 new nursing students would be
$5,626,800 per year beginning in fiscal year 2004. No additional costs
are estimated for fiscal years 2002-03 because funding for these years
is already provided.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is
anticipated.
Source Agencies: 781 Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
LBB Staff: JK, CT, MG