78R2276 JRJ-D
By: Miller H.B. No. 405
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to resident tuition for military personnel and their
dependents.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 54.058(c), (d), (f), and (g), Education
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(c) The [As long as they reside continuously in Texas, the]
spouse or child [and children] of a member of the Armed Forces of
the United States who has been assigned to duty elsewhere
immediately following assignment to duty in Texas is [are] entitled
to pay the tuition fees and other fees or charges provided for Texas
residents as long as the spouse or child resides continuously in
Texas.
(d) A spouse or dependent child of a member of the Armed
Forces of the United States, who is not assigned to duty in Texas
but who has previously resided in Texas for a six-month period, is
entitled to pay the tuition fees and other fees or charges provided
for Texas residents for any [a] term or semester at an institution
of higher education if the member:
(1) at least one year preceding the first day of the
term or semester executed a document with the applicable military
service that is in effect on the first day of the term or semester
and that:
(A) indicates that the member's permanent
residence address is in Texas; and
(B) designates Texas as the member's place of
legal residence for income tax purposes;
(2) has been registered to vote in Texas for the entire
year preceding the first day of the term or semester; and
(3) satisfies at least one of the following
requirements:
(A) for the entire year preceding the first day
of the term or semester has owned real property in Texas and in that
time has not been delinquent in the payment of any taxes on the
property;
(B) has had an automobile registered in Texas for
the entire year preceding the first day of the term or semester; or
(C) at least one year preceding the first day of
the term or semester executed a will that has not been revoked or
superseded indicating that the member is a resident of this state
and deposited the will with the county clerk of the county of the
member's residence under Section 71, Texas Probate Code.
(f) The spouse or child [and children] of a member of the
Armed Forces of the United States who dies or is killed is [are]
entitled to pay the resident tuition fee if the spouse or child
becomes a resident [wife and children become residents] of Texas
within 60 days of the date of death.
(g) If a member of the Armed Forces of the United States is
stationed outside Texas and the member's [his] spouse or child
establishes [and children establish] residence in Texas by residing
in Texas and by filing with the Texas institution of higher
education at which the spouse or child plans [they plan] to register
a letter of intent to establish residence in Texas, the institution
of higher education shall permit the spouse or child [and children]
to pay the tuition, fees, and other charges provided for Texas
residents without regard to length of time that the spouse or child
has [they have] resided in Texas [the state].
SECTION 2. Section 54.058, Education Code, as amended by
this Act, applies beginning with tuition charged for the 2003 fall
semester.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2003.