LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 83RD LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

April 23, 2013

TO:	Honorable Kel Seliger, Chair, Senate Committee on Higher Education
FROM:	Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	SB1258 by Hinojosa (Relating to improving access to nursing education programs.), As Introduced

Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for SB1258, As Introduced: an impact of $0 through the biennium ending August 31, 2018.

The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of the bill. 

General Revenue-Related Funds, Five-Year Impact:

Fiscal Year	Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds
2014	$0
2015	$0
2016	$0
2017	$0
2018	$0

All Funds, Five-Year Impact:

Fiscal Year	Probable Savings/(Cost) from Physician Ed. Loan Repayment 5144
2014	($250,000)
2015	($250,000)
2016	($250,000)
2017	($250,000)
2018	($250,000)

Fiscal Analysis

Among other provisions, the bill would implement recommendations in the report, "Maximize the Capacity of Nursing Education Programs to Reduce the Shortage of Nurses in Texas," in the Legislative Budget Board's Government Effectiveness and Efficiency Report submitted to the Eighty-Third Texas Legislature, 2013.

The bill would amend the Education Code to require the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) to adopt an electronic common application form for nursing education programs.

The bill would also create a nursing faculty loan repayment assistance program administered by the THECB. To be eligible to receive loan repayment assistance, a nurse must have been employed full-time as a faculty member of a nursing degree program for one year at the time of application for repayment assistance, at a public, private or independent institution of higher education, and comply with any additional requirements adopted by board rule. The amount of loan repayment assistance could not exceed $5,000 per year. Under provisions of the bill, the THECB could reallocate money from the physician education loan repayment program that exceeds the amounts necessary to fund physicians in that fiscal year, for purposes of supporting up to 50 eligible nurse applicants to the nursing loan repayment assistance program.

Methodology

Implementing provisions of this bill would result in a General Revenue-Dedicated cost of $250,000 per fiscal year. This cost associated with the loan repayment amount is based on the maximum number of recipients, 50, times the maximum award amount of $5,000. Since this program is tied to the physician loan repayment program which is funded by General Revenue-Dedicated Account 5144, these costs are shown in the table above as General Revenue-Dedicated funds.

Based on the LBB's analysis of responses from public university systems and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, it is assumed that administrative costs associated with implementing provisions of the bill would be absorbed within existing resources.

Local Government Impact

No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.

Source Agencies:

710 Texas A&M University System Administrative and General Offices, 720 The University of Texas System Administration, 758 Texas State University System, 768 Texas Tech University System Administration, 769 University of North Texas System Administration, 781 Higher Education Coordinating Board

LBB Staff:

UP, KK, JI, SDE, RT, GO, SD