LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
 
FISCAL NOTE, 83RD LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION
 
May 22, 2013

TO:
Honorable Joe Straus, Speaker of the House, House of Representatives
 
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
 
IN RE:
HB29 by Branch (Relating to the governance of public institutions of higher education in this state.), As Passed 2nd House

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

The bill amends Education Code as it relates to the governance of public institutions of higher education. The bill also includes a specific provision relating to the powers and duties of the board of regents of the Texas Tech University System. The bill amends various sections of the Education Code as they relate to the Texas Tech University System, Texas Tech University and Texas Tech University Health Science Center. Provisions of these sections of the bill would be implemented within existing resources. 

Under provisions of the bill, general academic teaching institutions, other than public state colleges, would be required to offer entering undergraduate students the opportunity to participate in a fixed tuition price plan under which the institution agrees not to increase tuition charges per semester credit hour for a participating student for at least 12 consecutive semesters that occur after the date of the student's initial enrollment. The fixed tuition plan would only impact designated tuition (deregulated tuition) as statutory tuition is set by the Legislature at $50 per semester credit hour. For purposes of this fiscal note it is assumed that institutions would adjust their designated tuition rate increases to assure the needed revenue flow under the fixed tuition price plan scenario, so no fiscal impacts in terms of loss revenue are anticipated for the institutions. For example in order to mitigate any tuition revenue losses, an institution could adopt a model where students are charged a predicted mid-point of the entire four-year cycle.  This will result in the first and second year fixed tuition rate being higher than the year-to-year rate in order to recoup the lost revenue from the third and fourth years. It is also assumed any technology costs associated with implementing the bill, such as programming, would be absorbed by the institutions.


Local Government Impact

No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.


Source Agencies:
720 The University of Texas System Administration, 768 Texas Tech University System Administration, 781 Higher Education Coordinating Board, 758 Texas State University System, 783 University of Houston System Administration
LBB Staff:
UP, KK, SK, GO