By: Eltife  S.B. No. 691
         (In the Senate - Filed February 20, 2013; February 25, 2013,
  read first time and referred to Committee on Higher Education;
  April 22, 2013, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
  Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 7, Nays 0; April 22, 2013,
  sent to printer.)
 
  COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 691 By:  Birdwell
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to the intercollegiate athletics fee at Texas A&M
  University--Texarkana; authorizing a fee.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter E, Chapter 54, Education Code, is
  amended by adding Section 54.53975 to read as follows:
         Sec. 54.53975.  INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS FEES; TEXAS A&M
  UNIVERSITY--TEXARKANA.  (a)  The board of regents of The Texas A&M
  University System may impose on each student enrolled at Texas A&M
  University--Texarkana an intercollegiate athletics fee in an
  amount not to exceed $9 per semester credit hour for each regular
  semester or summer session unless the amount of the fee is increased
  as provided by Subsection (c).
         (b)  The fee may not be imposed unless approved by a majority
  vote of the students of the university who participate in a general
  student election held for that purpose.
         (c)  The amount of the fee per semester credit hour may be
  increased from one academic year to the next only if approved by a
  majority vote of the students participating in a general student
  election held for that purpose or, if the amount of the increase
  does not exceed five percent, by a majority vote of the legislative
  body of the student government of the university.
         (d)  A student enrolled in more than 12 semester credit hours
  shall pay the fee in an amount equal to the amount imposed on a
  student enrolled in 12 semester credit hours during the same
  semester or session.
         (e)  A fee imposed under this section may be used to develop
  and maintain an intercollegiate athletics program at the
  university.
         (f)  A fee imposed under this section is in addition to any
  other fee authorized by law and may not be considered in determining
  the amount of student services fees that may be imposed under
  Section 54.503.
         (g)  The fee may not be charged after the fifth academic year
  in which the fee is first charged unless, before the end of that
  academic year, the university has issued bonds payable in whole or
  in part from the fee, in which event the fee may not be charged after
  the academic year in which all such bonds, including refunding
  bonds for those bonds, have been fully paid.
         SECTION 2.  This Act applies beginning with the 2013 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, 2013.
 
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