81R14088 KSD-D

By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 1443

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the academic costs charged to resident undergraduate students by general academic teaching institutions and certain reports regarding the operational costs of those 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 INCREASE IN TOTAL ACADEMIC COSTS CHARGED TO RESIDENT UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS. (a) In this section:

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

(2) "Total academic costs":

(A) includes:

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

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

(iii) mandatory academic fees; and

(iv) any other academic-related general fees and course fees, including fees for laboratories, field trips, access to Internet or multimedia service, equipment replacement, and instructional technology; and

(B) does not include optional fees charged to a student for voluntary services or a fee approved by students of the institution in a referendum held at the institution for that purpose.

(b) The total academic costs charged by a general academic teaching institution to an undergraduate student who is a resident of this state for an academic year may not exceed the total academic costs that the institution would have charged to a similarly situated student in the preceding academic year by more than the lesser of:

(1) five percent; or

(2) if the legislature has appropriated from undedicated general revenue funds available to pay the institution's core operational costs estimated by the Legislative Budget Board under Section 51.973 for the current state fiscal biennium a greater percentage than the legislature appropriated from undedicated general revenue funds available to pay the institution's core operational costs for the preceding state fiscal biennium, a percentage that would produce an amount of total academic costs charged to students that, when added to the additional amount of undedicated general revenue funds available to pay core operational costs of the institution, would result in a total increase of five percent in total academic costs charged to students and undedicated general revenue funds available to pay core operating costs for that academic year.

(b-1) This subsection applies to total academic costs charged to students for the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 academic years. Subsection (b) does not apply to those costs in an academic year to which this subsection applies. In an academic year to which this subsection applies, the total academic costs charged by a general academic teaching institution to an undergraduate student who is a resident of this state may not exceed the total academic costs that the institution would have charged to a similarly situated student in the preceding academic year by more than:

(1) five percent; or

(2) if the institution's average per student total academic costs for the most recent academic year for which the information is available are less than the statewide average for those costs for that year as determined by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the greater of:

(A) five percent; or

(B) $360.

(c) Notwithstanding Subsection (b), a general academic teaching institution may charge a student an amount of total academic costs that exceeds the maximum amount prescribed by that subsection if the amount of the increase was approved by the students of the institution in a referendum held in the preceding academic year at the institution for that purpose. The institution may hold a referendum for purposes of this subsection.

(d) For purposes of this section, students are similarly situated if they share the same residency status, degree program, course load, course level, tuition exemption status, and other circumstances affecting the total academic costs charged to the student.

(e) This section does not ensure that the total academic costs charged to an individual student will not increase by more than the limitation prescribed by Subsection (b) based on a change in the student's residency status, degree program, course load, course level, tuition exemption status, or other circumstance affecting the total academic costs charged to the student.

(f) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall adopt rules as necessary to administer this section.

SECTION 2. Subchapter D, Chapter 54, Education Code, is amended by adding Section 54.202 to read as follows:

Sec. 54.202. TUITION EXEMPTION FOR CERTAIN FIRST-TIME FRESHMAN STUDENTS AT GENERAL ACADEMIC TEACHING INSTITUTIONS. (a) In this section, "general academic teaching institution" has the meaning assigned by Section 61.003.

(b) A general academic teaching institution shall exempt from the payment of tuition and mandatory fees charged by the institution for a fall or spring semester a person who:

(1) enrolls in the institution for that semester as a first-time, entering freshman student, disregarding any college-level courses in which the person enrolled in the preceding summer session;

(2) enrolls for that semester in at least 15 semester credit hours;

(3) is a resident of this state for purposes of Subchapter B;

(4) has filed a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA); and

(5) has a household adjusted gross income for the most recently completed tax year that is $30,000 or less.

(c) A person may receive an exemption under this section for not more than 15 semester credit hours.

(d) The exemption provided by this section does not apply to a transfer student.

(e) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board may adopt rules for the administration of this section.

SECTION 3. Subchapter Z, Chapter 51, Education Code, is amended by adding Section 51.973 to read as follows:

Sec. 51.973. BIENNIAL REPORT BY LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD REGARDING UNIVERSITY CORE OPERATIONAL COSTS; LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE. (a) Not later than December 1 of each odd-numbered year, the Legislative Budget Board shall submit to the senate finance committee, the house appropriations committee, and the standing committee of each house with primary jurisdiction over higher education, for consideration by the members of those committees in determining the amount of general revenue appropriations to general academic teaching institutions and tuition rates at those institutions, the Legislative Budget Board's estimate of the core operational costs for the next state fiscal biennium for each general academic teaching institution, based on a methodology that:

(1) projects for each year of the next biennium:

(A) changes in student enrollment for each institution; and

(B) a rate of inflation; and

(2) uses data from each institution's annual financial report regarding costs for instruction, academic support, institutional support, operations and maintenance of physical plants, and student services.

(b) Beginning in 2013, the Legislative Budget Board shall submit with its estimate under Subsection (a) a comparison of each institution's actual core operational costs for the preceding state fiscal biennium to the board's previous estimate of the institution's core operational costs for that biennium.

(c) A legislative oversight committee is established to oversee the Legislative Budget Board's development of the methodology described by Subsection (a). The legislative oversight committee is composed of six members as follows:

(1) three members of the senate appointed by the lieutenant governor; and

(2) three members of the house of representatives appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives.

(d) The lieutenant governor shall designate one of the legislative oversight committee members appointed by the lieutenant governor as committee co-chair, and the speaker shall designate one of the committee members appointed by the speaker as committee co-chair.

(e) An appointed member of the legislative oversight committee serves at the pleasure of the appointing official.

(f) The legislative oversight committee shall meet at the call of the chair and may request reports and other information from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board or any general academic teaching institution as necessary to carry out the committee's duties under this section.

SECTION 4. Not later than September 1, 2010, each general academic teaching institution shall submit to the Legislative Budget Board, the senate finance committee, the house appropriations committee, and the standing committee of each house with primary jurisdiction over higher education a detailed plan for reducing the institution's operational costs, excluding the institution's core academic budget, by at least five percent.

SECTION 5. 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 this Act takes effect. For that purpose, the coordinating board may adopt the initial rules in the manner provided by law for emergency rules.

SECTION 6. 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.