BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 3332

By: Keffer

Higher Education

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Interested parties note that Brown County has long been a part of Ranger College's five-county service area and that the number of Brown County residents enrolled at Ranger College has been steadily increasing. The parties observe that Brown County residents can receive enhanced services from the community college, including a broader range of programs and full participation in the governance of Ranger College, if they elect to become part of the core district territory. The parties report that Ranger College cannot annex Brown County because it includes a Texas State Technical College campus. H.B. 3332 seeks to allow the citizens of Brown County to decide whether the county should be annexed by Ranger College.  

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 3332 amends the Education Code to exempt territory located in Brown County from the prohibition against a junior college district annexing territory if a campus of the Texas State Technical College System is located outside the junior college district and within the county in which the territory is located. The bill adds Brown County to those counties in which Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approval of certain technical-vocational programs offered by a campus or extension center is not required.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2013.