BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Research Center C.S.H.B. 1505
80R17150 JRJ-F By: Lucio III (Lucio)
Committee Report (Substituted)
AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College currently fund their athletic programs through a general student services fee of $12 per credit hour, with a $150 cap per student. The athletics department currently receives 37 percent of the total funds raised through this fee.
The establishment of a separate athletics fee would help to finance the recent acceptance of these institutions of higher education into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, a four-year athletic association, and would allow the reallocation of the general student service fee to other student programs intended to aid students in succeeding in the classroom and graduating on time.
C.S.H.B. 1505 establishes a $7 per credit hour intercollegiate athletics fee at these institutions of higher education for the purpose of funding a separate athletics department budget from the general student services fee.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to any state officer, institution, or agency.
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter E, Chapter 54, Education Code, by adding Section 54.551, as follows:
Sec. 54.551. INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS FEE; THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT BROWNSVILLE. (a) Authorizes the board of regents of The University of Texas System (board) to impose on each student enrolled at The University of Texas at Brownsville (UT-Brownsville) an intercollegiate athletics fee in an amount not to exceed $7 per semester credit hour.
(b) Requires the board to deposit revenue from the fee to the credit of an account known as UT-Brownsville intercollegiate athletics fee account. Requires money in the account to be used in accordance with the terms of the partnership agreements entered into between UT-Brownsville and Texas Southmost College under Section 78.02.
(c) Prohibits the fee from being imposed unless approved by a majority vote of the students at UT-Brownsville participating in a general election held for that purpose.
(d) Prohibits the amount of the fee from being increased to an amount that exceeds by 10 percent or more the total amount of the fee as last approved by a student vote under Subsection (c) or this subsection unless the increase has been approved by a majority vote of the students enrolled at UT-Brownsville participating in a general election held for that purpose.
(e) Provides that a fee imposed under this section is in addition to any other fee the board is authorized by law to impose.
(f) Requires the fee imposed under this section to be in the same amount as the intercollegiate athletics fee charged to a student at Texas Southmost College by the board of trustees of Southmost Union Junior College District, subject to the limitations of this section on the amount of the fee and any increase in the amount of the fee. Authorizes a student attending either or both institutions to be charged an intercollegiate athletics fee by only one of those institutions.
(g) Prohibits the board from imposing the fee authorized by this section on a student who is enrolled solely in online courses at UT-Brownsville.
SECTION 2. Makes application of this Act prospective to the 2007 fall semester.
SECTION 3. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2007