81R9912 KSD-D

By: Kleinschmidt H.B. No. 2727

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to resident tuition rates at public institutions of higher education for children of certain military personnel.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 54.058, Education Code, is amended by adding Subsection (k) to read as follows:

(k) A person is entitled to pay tuition and fees at an institution of higher education at the rate provided for Texas residents without regard to the length of time the person has resided in this state if the person, on the first day of the semester or other academic term for which the person is registering, is:

(1) 23 years of age or younger; and

(2) a dependent child of:

(A) an active member of the Armed Forces of the United States; or

(B) a person who has retired or been honorably discharged from the Armed Forces of the United States:

(i) after serving on active military duty, excluding training, for at least 10 years; or

(ii) because of an illness or injury directly connected with that service, regardless of the length of that service.

SECTION 2. Section 54.058(k), Education Code, as added by this Act, applies beginning with tuition and other fees charged for the first term or semester that begins after the effective date of this Act, but not earlier than the 2009 fall semester. Tuition and other fees charged for an academic period before that term or 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 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, 2009.