81R10401 KSD-D

By: Villarreal H.B. No. 3939

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to limitations on the total amount of tuition and mandatory academic fees charged to resident undergraduate students at general academic teaching institutions.

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

SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 54, Education Code, is amended by adding Section 54.017 to read as follows:

Sec. 54.017. LIMITATION ON TUITION AND FEES CHARGED TO RESIDENT UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT GENERAL ACADEMIC TEACHING INSTITUTIONS. (a) In this section:

(1) "Academic year" includes the summer session that follows the spring semester of an academic year.

(2) "General academic teaching institution" has the meaning assigned by Section 61.003.

(3) "Tuition" includes:

(A) tuition for which the rates are prescribed by this chapter; and

(B) tuition charged by a general academic teaching institution under Section 54.0513 or another law authorizing an institution to establish tuition rates.

(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the total amount of tuition and mandatory academic fees charged by a general academic teaching institution to a resident undergraduate student for an academic year, excluding any amount for which the student received financial aid other than student loans, may not exceed an amount equal to eight percent of the student's household adjusted gross income for the most recent federal tax year that ended before the start of that academic year.

(c) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall adopt rules for the administration of this section, including rules prescribing the procedure by which an institution may request necessary income information from a student.

SECTION 2. Section 54.017, Education Code, as added by this Act, applies beginning with tuition charged by public institutions of higher education for the 2010-2011 academic year. Tuition charged by an institution of higher education in an academic year before that academic year is covered by the law in effect before the effective date of this Act, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 3. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall adopt the rules required by Section 54.017, Education Code, as added by this Act, as soon as practicable after the effective date of this Act.

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.