H.B. No. 2198
 
 
 
 
AN ACT
  relating to authorizing certain public junior colleges to offer
  baccalaureate degree programs.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 130.0012, Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 130.0012.  [PILOT PROJECT:] BACCALAUREATE DEGREE
  PROGRAMS. (a) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall
  authorize [establish a pilot project to examine the feasibility and
  effectiveness of authorizing] public junior colleges to offer
  baccalaureate degree programs in the fields of applied science and
  applied technology under this section. Offering a baccalaureate
  degree program under this section [Participation in the pilot
  project] does not otherwise alter the role and mission of a public
  junior college.
         (b)  The coordinating board shall authorize baccalaureate
  degree programs [operate the pilot project] at each [three] public
  junior college that previously participated in a pilot project to
  offer baccalaureate degree programs [colleges, as determined by the
  coordinating board].
         (c)  A public junior college offering a baccalaureate degree
  program under this section [participating in the pilot project]
  must meet all applicable accreditation requirements of the
  Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and
  Schools.
         (d)  A public junior college offering a baccalaureate degree
  program under this section [participating in the pilot project] may
  not offer more than five baccalaureate degree programs [under the
  project] at any time. The degree programs are subject to the
  continuing approval of the coordinating board.
         (e)  In determining what baccalaureate degree programs are
  to be offered, [the junior college and] the coordinating board
  shall consider:
               (1)  the need for the degree programs in the region
  served by the junior college;
               (2)  how those degree programs would complement the
  other programs and course offerings of the junior college;
               (3)  whether those degree programs would unnecessarily
  duplicate the degree programs offered by other institutions of
  higher education; and
               (4)  the ability of the junior college to support the
  program and the adequacy of the junior college's facilities,
  faculty, administration, libraries, and other resources.
         (f) [(e)]  Each public junior college that offers a
  baccalaureate degree program under this section [the pilot project]
  must enter into an articulation agreement with one or more general
  academic teaching institutions to ensure that students enrolled in
  the degree program have an opportunity to complete the degree if the
  public junior college ceases to offer the degree program. The
  coordinating board may require a general academic teaching
  institution that offers a comparable degree program to enter into
  an articulation agreement with the public junior college as
  provided by this subsection.
         (g) [(f)]  In its recommendations to the legislature
  relating to state funding for public junior colleges, the
  coordinating board shall recommend that a public junior college
  receive substantially the same state support for junior-level and
  senior-level courses offered under this section [the pilot project]
  as that provided to a general academic teaching institution for
  substantially similar courses. In determining the contact hours
  attributable to students enrolled in a junior-level or senior-level
  course offered under this section [the pilot project] used to
  determine a public junior college's proportionate share of state
  appropriations under Section 130.003, the coordinating board shall
  weigh those contact hours as necessary to provide the junior
  college the appropriate level of state support to the extent state
  funds for those courses are included in the appropriations. This
  subsection does not prohibit the legislature from directly
  appropriating state funds to support junior-level and senior-level
  courses offered under this section [the pilot project].
         (h) [(g)]  Each public junior college offering a
  baccalaureate degree program under this section [participating in
  the pilot project] shall prepare a biennial report on the operation
  and effectiveness of the junior college's baccalaureate degree
  programs [offered under the project] and shall deliver a copy of the
  report to the coordinating board in the form and at the time
  determined by the coordinating board.
         [(h)     Not later than January 1, 2009, the coordinating board
  shall prepare a progress report on the pilot project. Not later
  than January 1, 2011, the coordinating board shall prepare a report
  on the effectiveness of the pilot project, including any
  recommendations for legislative action regarding the offering of
  baccalaureate degree programs by public junior colleges. The
  coordinating board shall deliver a copy of each report to the
  governor, the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the house of
  representatives, and the chair of the standing committee of each
  house of the legislature with primary jurisdiction over higher
  education].
         [(i)     Unless the authority to continue offering the
  baccalaureate degree programs is continued by the legislature, a
  public junior college may not:
               [(1)     enroll a new student in a baccalaureate degree
  program under the pilot project after the 2011 fall semester;
               [(2)     offer junior-level or senior-level courses for
  those degree programs after the 2015 fall semester, unless the
  coordinating board authorizes the college to offer those courses;
  or
               [(3)     award a baccalaureate degree under the pilot
  project after the 2015 fall semester, unless the coordinating board
  approves the awarding of the degree.]
         (j)  The coordinating board shall prescribe procedures to
  ensure that each public junior college that offers a degree program
  under this section [the pilot project] informs each student who
  enrolls in the degree program of[:
               [(1)     the nature of the pilot project, including the
  limited duration of the project; and
               [(2)] the articulation agreement entered into under
  Subsection (f) [(e)] for the student's degree program.
         [(k)  This section expires January 1, 2020.]
         SECTION 2.  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, 2007.
 
 
  ______________________________ ______________________________
     President of the Senate Speaker of the House     
 
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 2198 was passed by the House on April
  17, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 131, Nays 2, 2 present, not
  voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
  No. 2198 on May 25, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 140, Nays 0,
  2 present, not voting.
 
  ______________________________
  Chief Clerk of the House   
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 2198 was passed by the Senate, with
  amendments, on May 23, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 30, Nays
  0.
 
  ______________________________
  Secretary of the Senate   
  APPROVED: __________________
                  Date       
   
           __________________
                Governor