BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 3470

By: Patrick, Diane

Defense & Veterans' Affairs

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The Texas Armed Services Scholarship Program encourages students to participate in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program at institutions of higher education in Texas by providing scholarship funding to certain qualified students.  C.S.H.B. 3470 seeks to advance the efforts of the Texas Armed Services Scholarship Program to provide financial aid to our men and women seeking postsecondary education while bravely serving our country.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in SECTION 4 of this bill.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 3470 amends the Education Code to require a student to be enrolled in a public or private institution of higher education in Texas generally, rather than enrolled only as a freshman, to be eligible for a scholarship under the Texas Armed Services Scholarship Program.   The bill requires the agreement between the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and a student selected for a scholarship to require the student to graduate not later than six years, rather than not later than five years, after the date the student first enrolls in a public or private institution of higher education in Texas. The bill requires the agreement to require the student, after graduation, to enter into a four-year commitment to be a member of the Texas Army National Guard, Texas Air National Guard, Texas State Guard, United States Coast Guard, or United States Merchant Marine, rather than a member of the Texas Army or Air Force National Guard, and makes a conforming change.

C.S.H.B. 3470 requires a scholarship awarded under the Texas Armed Services Scholarship Program to be reduced for an academic year by the amount by which the full amount of the scholarship plus the total amount to be paid to the student for being under contract with one of the branches of the armed services of the United States exceeds the student's total cost of attendance for that academic year at the public or private institution of higher education in which the student is enrolled.  The bill removes rulemaking provisions relating to a deduction of the amount paid to a student by a branch of the armed services from the scholarship amount.  The bill requires the coordinating board to adopt rules for the administration of the Texas Armed Services Scholarship Program, as amended by the bill's provisions, as soon as practicable after the effective date of the bill and authorizes the coordinating board, for that purpose, to adopt the rules in the manner provided by provisions of law for emergency rules.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2011.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 3470 differs from the original by requiring the agreement between the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and a student selected for a scholarship to require the student, after graduation, to enter into a four-year commitment to be a member of the Texas Army National Guard, Texas Air National Guard, Texas State Guard, United States Coast Guard, or United States Merchant Marine, whereas the original requires the agreement to require such a student to enter into a four-year commitment to be a member of the Texas Army National Guard, Texas Air National Guard, or Texas State Guard.