BILL ANALYSIS
By: McReynolds
Defense Affairs & State-Federal Relations
Committee Report (Substituted)
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Under current law, professors in Texas institutions of higher learning are left to their own discretion as to how to handle student absences, including students in the military who are called to duty. This has caused problems in the past as students have been penalized for being absent from class while serving their country. Although most schools are understanding in their policies towards these students, there needs to be a standard state policy that automatically excuses absences for students called to military service for a relatively short duration.
CSHB 1630 puts in statute that students enrolled in an institution of higher education who are called to military duty will have their absences excused.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in SECTION 1 (Section 51.9111 (d)) of this bill.
ANALYSIS
This bill states that a student at an institution of higher education, who is called to active military duty, shall be excused from all class work and shall be allowed a reasonable amount of time to complete all missed work upon his or her return. It also states that this only applies to students who choose not to withdraw.
This bill also requires the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to adopt rules to implement this measure, and it states that these rules must establish a maximum period that a student may be excused for based on how much time a student would be able to miss without significantly affecting his or her semester.
EFFECTIVE DATE
This Act shall take effect immediately if it receives the necessary vote, otherwise it will take effect September 1, 2005.
COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE
The substitute adds the Texas State Guard to the definition of "active military service."