80R13040 KEL-D
 
  By: Ellis S.B. No. 2006
 
 
 
   
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to admissions to public law schools in this state.
       BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
       SECTION 1.  Subchapter Z, Chapter 51, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 51.970 to read as follows:
       Sec. 51.970.  LAW SCHOOL ADMISSIONS. (a) This section
applies only to an institution of higher education, as defined by
Section 61.003, offering a professional law degree program with
respect to which the institution:
             (1)  restricts the number of applicants admitted to the
program for an academic year; and
             (2)  for the academic year described by Subdivision
(1), denies admission to the program to one or more applicants who:
                   (A)  are residents of this state under Subchapter
B, Chapter 54; and
                   (B)  based on their applications reasonably
demonstrate that they are likely to be capable of performing the
quality of work necessary to obtain a law degree under the program.
       (b)  For an academic year for which the institution denies
program admission to an applicant described by Subsection (a)(2),
and regardless of whether a nonresident applicant who enrolls as
described by this subsection will pay tuition and fees at resident
rates, an institution of higher education to which this section
applies may not enroll in the institution's professional law degree
program a number of applicants who are not residents of this state
under Subchapter B, Chapter 54, that exceeds 10 percent of the total
enrollment in the program during that academic year, except as
provided by Subsection (c).
       (c)  The institution may enroll in the institution's
professional law degree program in an academic year a number of
nonresident applicants in a greater percentage than otherwise
permitted by Subsection (b), not to exceed 35 percent of the total
enrollment in the program for the academic year, if the nonresident
students enrolled in the program in excess of the percentage
permitted by Subsection (b) are admitted to the program based
solely on academic merit.
       (d)  Notwithstanding any other law, the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board in the formulas established under
Section 61.059 for an institution of higher education to which this
section applies may not include funding based on the enrollment of a
nonresident student in the institution's professional law degree
program in violation of this section.
       SECTION 2.  Section 51.970, Education Code, as added by this
Act, applies beginning with admissions for the 2008-2009 academic
year.
       SECTION 3.  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.