BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Research Center S.B. 612
80R3350 JRJ-F By: Lucio
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. The student service fee is $12 per credit hour with a $150 cap per student. The athletics department currently receives 37 percent of the total funds raised through the general student service fee. Establishing a separate athletic fee would help finance the recent acceptance of The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College's into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, a four-year athletic association. Also, it would allow for the reallocation of the general student service fees to other student programs that could be used to help students succeed in the classroom and graduate on time.
As proposed, S.B. 612 establishes a $7 per credit hour intercollegiate athletics fee at these universities to create an athletics department budget that is separate 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 to impose on each student enrolled at The University of Texas at 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 The University of Texas at 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 The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College under Section 78.02.
(c) Prohibits the board from increasing the amount of the fee by more than 10 percent from one academic year to the next unless the amount of the increase is approved by a majority vote of the students participating in a general student election held at the university for that purpose, and a majority of the members of the legislative body of the student government of the university.
(d) Provides that a fee imposed under this section is in addition to any other fee that the board is authorized by law to impose.
(e) Requires the fee 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, and to be subject to the limitations of this section on the amount of the fee and any increase in the amount of the fee. Provides that a student attending either or both institutions may be charged an intercollegiate athletics fee by only one of the institutions.
SECTION 2. Makes application of this Act prospective to the 2007 fall semester.
SECTION 3. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2007.