S.B. No. 532




AN ACT

relating to tuition and other charges and fees imposed by the 
governing board of a junior college district.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Subsection (b), Section 130.003, Education Code, 
is amended to read as follows:
	(b)  To be eligible for and to receive a proportionate share 
of the appropriation, a public junior college must:
		(1)  be certified as a public junior college as 
prescribed in Section 61.063 [of this code];
		(2)  offer a minimum of 24 semester hours of vocational 
and/or terminal courses;
		(3)  have complied with all existing laws, rules, and 
regulations governing the establishment and maintenance of public 
junior colleges;
		(4)  collect, from each full-time and part-time student 
enrolled, matriculation and other session fees in the amounts 
required by law or in the amounts set by the governing board of the 
junior college district as authorized by this title;
		(5)  grant, when properly applied for, the scholarships 
and tuition exemptions provided for in this code; and
		(6)  for a public junior college established on or 
after September 1, 1986, levy and collect ad valorem taxes as 
provided by law for the operation and maintenance of the public 
junior college.
	SECTION 2.  Section 130.084, Education Code, is amended to 
read as follows:  
	Sec. 130.084.  POWERS AND DUTIES.  (a)  The governing board 
[of trustees] of a junior college district [districts] shall be 
governed in the establishment, management, and control of a public
[the] junior college in the district by the general law governing 
the establishment, management, and control of independent school 
districts insofar as the general law is applicable.
	(b)  The governing board of a junior college district may set 
and collect with respect to a public junior college in the district 
any amount of tuition, rentals, rates, charges, or fees the board 
considers necessary for the efficient operation of the college, 
except that a tuition rate set under this subsection must satisfy 
the requirements of Section 54.051(n).  The governing board may set 
a different tuition rate for each program, course, or course level 
offered by the college, including a program, course, or course 
level to which a provision of Section 54.051 applies, as the 
governing board considers appropriate to reflect course costs or to 
promote efficiency or another rational purpose.
	SECTION 3.  Subsection (b), Section 130.003, and Section 
130.084, Education Code, as amended by this Act, apply beginning 
with tuition charged for the 2005 fall semester.  Tuition charged 
for an academic period before the 2005 fall semester is covered by 
the law in effect immediately before the effective date of this Act, 
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
	SECTION 4.  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, 2005.





______________________________    ______________________________
President of the Senate             Speaker of the House
	I hereby certify that S.B. No. 532 passed the Senate on 
April 28, 2005, by the following vote:  Yeas 31, Nays 0; and that 
the Senate concurred in House amendment on May 27, 2005, by the 
following vote:  Yeas 29, Nays 0.




______________________________ 
   Secretary of the Senate             
	I hereby certify that S.B. No. 532 passed the House, with 
amendment, on May 25, 2005, by the following vote:  Yeas 144, 
Nays 0, two present not voting.




______________________________ 
   Chief Clerk of the House            



Approved:


______________________________ 
            Date



______________________________ 
          Governor