79R2668 KSD-D

By:  Branch                                                       H.B. No. 1046



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the automatic admission of undergraduate students to 
general academic teaching institutions.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 51.803, Education Code, is amended by 
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c) to read as 
follows:
	(a)  Subject to Subsection (c), each [Each] general academic 
teaching institution shall admit an applicant for admission to the 
institution as an undergraduate student if the applicant graduated 
with a grade point average in the top 10 percent of the student's 
high school graduating class in one of the two school years 
preceding the academic year for which the applicant is applying for 
admission and the applicant graduated from a public or private high 
school in this state accredited by a generally recognized 
accrediting organization or from a high school operated by the 
United States Department of Defense.  To qualify for admission 
under this section, an applicant must submit an application before 
the expiration of any application filing deadline established by 
the institution and, if the applicant graduated from a high school 
operated by the United States Department of Defense, must be a Texas 
resident under Section 54.052 or be entitled to pay tuition fees at 
the rate provided for Texas residents under Section 54.058(d) for 
the term or semester to which admitted.
	(c)  A general academic teaching institution shall reserve 
for admissions under Subsection (a) not less than 50 percent of the 
institution's enrollment capacity designated for first-time 
undergraduate students.  If the number of applicants who qualify 
for automatic admission to a general academic teaching institution 
under Subsection (a) exceeds the number of spaces reserved by the 
institution for admissions under Subsection (a), the institution 
shall offer admission to those applicants by percentile rank 
according to graduating class standing based on grade point 
average, beginning with the top percentile rank, until a sufficient 
number of applicants have accepted admission offers to fill those 
spaces, except that the institution must offer admission to all 
applicants with the same percentile rank.  The institution shall 
consider any remaining applicants qualified for automatic 
admission under Subsection (a) in the same manner as other 
applicants for admission as first-time freshman students in 
accordance with Section 51.805.
	SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies 
beginning with admissions to institutions of higher education for 
the 2006-2007 academic year.  Admissions to an institution of 
higher education before that academic year are covered by the law in 
effect before the effective date of this Act, and the former law is 
continued in effect for that purpose.
	SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.