SRC-TAG S.B. 1546 78(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Senate Research CenterS.B. 1546
By: Janek
Subcommittee on Higher Education
6/29/2003
Enrolled

DIGEST AND PURPOSE 
 
Current law prohibits a laboratory fee charged by a community or junior
college from exceeding the cost of actual materials and supplies used by
the student.  The statute further limits the fee from exceeding $24, even
if the actual costs are significantly higher.  Consequently, the excess
cost  is either placed on the local property taxpayers or onto the overall
tuition charged to all students.  S.B. 1546 eliminates the semester cap of
$24 and replaces it with a fee of up to $24 per credit hour but not
exceeding the actual cost of materials an supplies.  S.B. 1546 authorizes
the governing board of a public junior college to apply an additional fee
of no more than $4 per contact hour for a student enrolled in an aerospace
mechanic certification program.  

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to
a state officer, institution, or agency. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Sections 54.501(a) and (c), Education Code, as follows:

(a)  Requires an institution of higher education to set and collect a
laboratory fee, rather than collect a laboratory charge, in an amount
sufficient to cover the general cost of laboratory materials and supplies
used by a student.  Authorizes an institution other than a public junior
college to charge a laboratory fee in an amount that is not less than $2
nor more than $30 for any one semester or summer term for a student in any
one laboratory course, except that the amount of the laboratory fee may
not exceed the cost of actual materials and supplies used by the student.
Authorizes a public junior college to charge a laboratory fee in an amount
that does not exceed the lesser of $24 per semester credit hours of
laboratory course credit for which the student is enrolled or the cost of
actual materials and supplies used by the student. 

(c)  Authorizes the governing board of a public junior college to set and
collect a fee per contact hour, not to exceed $4, for each person
registered in an aerospace mechanics certification course where the fee is
required to offset that portion of the cost of the course including the
cost of equipment and of professional instruction or tutoring, that is not
covered by state funding or by the fee in Subsection (a). 

SECTION 2.  Provides that the change in law made by this Act applies only
to fees imposed for a semester or term that begins on or after the
effective date of this Act. 

SECTION 3.  Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2003.