By: Branch, Guillen, Lozano H.B. No. 3025

(Senate Sponsor - Zaffirini)

(In the Senate - Received from the House May 11, 2011; May 11, 2011, read first time and referred to Committee on Higher Education; May 23, 2011, reported adversely, with favorable Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 5, Nays 0; May 23, 2011, sent to printer.)

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 3025 By: Zaffirini

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the filing of a degree plan by undergraduate students at public institutions of higher education.

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

SECTION 1. Subchapter Z, Chapter 51, Education Code, is amended by adding Section 51.9685 to read as follows:

Sec. 51.9685. REQUIRED FILING OF DEGREE PLAN. (a) In this section:

(1) "Degree plan" means a statement of the course of study requirements that an undergraduate student at an institution of higher education must complete in order to be awarded an associate or bachelor's degree from the institution.

(2) "Institution of higher education" has the meaning assigned by Section 61.003.

(b) Except as otherwise provided by Subsection (c), each student enrolled in an associate or bachelor's degree program at an institution of higher education shall file a degree plan with the institution not later than the end of the second regular semester or term immediately following the semester or term in which the student earned a cumulative total of 45 or more semester credit hours for coursework successfully completed by the student, including transfer courses, international baccalaureate courses, dual credit courses, and any other course for which the institution the student attends has awarded the student college course credit, including course credit awarded by examination.

(c) A student to whom this section applies who begins the student's first semester or term at an institution of higher education with 45 or more semester credit hours of course credit for courses described by Subsection (b) shall file a degree plan with the institution not later than the end of the student's second regular semester or term at the institution.

(d) An institution of higher education shall provide to students to whom this section applies information regarding the degree plan filing requirement under this section and options for consulting with an academic advisor for that purpose, which may include consultation through electronic communication.

(e) At each registration for a semester or term, a student who is required to have filed a degree plan under this section before that semester or term shall verify to the institution that:

(1) the student has filed a degree plan with the institution; and

(2) the courses for which the student is registering are consistent with that degree plan.

(f) If a student to whom this section applies does not timely file a degree plan, the institution of higher education in which the student is enrolled shall notify the student that the degree plan is required by law and require the student to consult with an academic advisor for that purpose in accordance with the consulting options under Subsection (d) during the semester or term in which the student receives the notice. The student may not obtain an official transcript from the institution until the student has filed a degree plan with the institution.

(g) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, in consultation with institutions of higher education, may adopt rules as necessary for the administration of this section.

SECTION 2. Section 51.9685, Education Code, as added by this Act, applies beginning with undergraduate students who initially enroll in a public institution of higher education for the 2012 fall semester.

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, 2011.

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