81R9289 KSD-F
 
  By: Lewis, Cook H.B. No. 2304
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to tuition and fee exemptions at public institutions of
  higher education for students who have been under the
  conservatorship of the Department of Family and Protective
  Services.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 
         SECTION 1.  The heading to Section 54.211, Education Code,
  is amended to read as follows:
         Sec. 54.211.  EXEMPTIONS FOR STUDENTS UNDER CONSERVATORSHIP
  OF DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY AND PROTECTIVE SERVICES [IN FOSTER OR OTHER
  RESIDENTIAL CARE].
         SECTION 2.  Section 54.211(a), Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (a)  A student is exempt from the payment of tuition and fees
  authorized in this chapter if the student:
               (1)  was [in foster care or other residential care]
  under the conservatorship of the Department of Family and
  Protective Services [on or after]:
                     (A)  on the day preceding the student's 18th
  birthday;
                     (B)  on or after  the day of the student's 14th
  birthday, if the student was also eligible for adoption on or after
  that day; [or]
                     (C)  on  the day the student graduated from high
  school or received the equivalent of a high school diploma; or
                     (D)  during an academic term in which the student
  was enrolled in a dual credit course or other course for which a
  high school student may earn joint high school and college credit;
  and
               (2)  enrolls in an institution of higher education as
  an undergraduate student or in a dual credit course or other course
  for which a high school student may earn joint high school and
  college credit not later than:
                     (A)  the third anniversary of the date the student
  was discharged from the conservatorship of the Department of Family
  and Protective Services [foster or other residential care], the
  date the student graduated from high school, or the date the student
  received the equivalent of a high school diploma, whichever date is
  earliest; or
                     (B)  the student's 21st birthday.
         SECTION 3.  Section 54.211, Education Code, as amended by
  this Act, applies beginning with tuition and other fees charged for
  the 2009 fall semester.  Tuition and other fees charged for an
  academic period before that semester are 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, 2009.