85R14246 JRJ-F
 
  By: Muñoz, Jr. H.B. No. 2902
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to authorization by the Texas Higher Education
  Coordinating Board for certain public junior colleges to offer
  baccalaureate degree programs.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 130.0012, Education Code, is amended by
  amending Subsections (a), (d), (e), and (g) and adding Subsections
  (b-4), (b-5), (e-1), and (g-1) to read as follows:
         (a)  The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board may
  [shall] authorize public junior colleges to offer baccalaureate
  degree programs in the fields of applied science, [and] applied
  technology, and nursing under this section. Offering a
  baccalaureate degree program under this section does not otherwise
  alter the role and mission of a public junior college.
         (b-4)  The coordinating board shall establish a pilot
  project to examine the feasibility and effectiveness of authorizing
  a baccalaureate degree program in the field of nursing to be offered
  by the South Texas Community College District if it has
  demonstrated a workforce need.
         (b-5)  Not later than January 1, 2019, the coordinating board
  shall prepare a progress report on the pilot project established
  under Subsection (b-4). Not later than January 1, 2021, the
  coordinating board shall prepare a report on the effectiveness of
  the pilot project, including any recommendations for legislative
  action regarding the offering of baccalaureate degree programs in
  the field of nursing by a public junior college. The coordinating
  board shall deliver a copy of each report to the governor, the
  lieutenant governor, the speaker of the house of representatives,
  and the chair of the standing committee of each house of the
  legislature with primary jurisdiction over higher education.
  Unless the authority to continue offering a baccalaureate degree
  program in the field of nursing is continued by the legislature, a
  public junior college may not:
               (1)  enroll a new student in a baccalaureate degree
  program under the pilot project after the 2022 fall semester;
               (2)  offer junior-level or senior-level courses for
  those degree programs after the 2025 fall semester, unless the
  coordinating board authorizes the college to offer those courses;
  or
               (3)  award a baccalaureate degree under the pilot
  project after the 2025 fall semester, unless the coordinating board
  approves the awarding of the degree.
         (d)  A public junior college offering a baccalaureate degree
  program under this section may not offer more than six [five]
  baccalaureate degree programs at any time.  The degree programs are
  subject to the continuing approval of the coordinating board.
         (e)  In determining whether a public junior college may offer 
  [what] baccalaureate degree programs and what degree programs may 
  [are to] be offered, the coordinating board shall:
               (1)  apply the same criteria and standards the
  coordinating board uses to approve baccalaureate degree programs at
  general academic teaching institutions; and
               (2)  consider the following factors:
                     (A) [(1)]  the workforce need for the degree
  programs in the region served by the junior college;
                     (B) [(2)]  how those degree programs would
  complement the other programs and course offerings of the junior
  college and whether the associate degree program offered by the
  junior college in the same field has been successful;
                     (C) [(3)]  whether those degree programs would
  unnecessarily duplicate the degree programs offered by other
  institutions of higher education; and
                     (D) [(4)]  the ability of the junior college to
  support the degree programs with student enrollment [program] and
  the adequacy of the junior college's facilities, faculty,
  administration, libraries, and other resources.
         (e-1)  A public junior college may offer a baccalaureate
  degree program under this section only if its junior college
  district meets the taxable property valuation amount established in
  Section 130.032.
         (g)  Except as provided by Subsection (g-1), in [In] its
  recommendations to the legislature relating to state funding for
  public junior colleges, the coordinating board shall recommend that
  a public junior college receive substantially the same state
  support for junior-level and senior-level courses offered under
  this section as that provided to a general academic teaching
  institution for substantially similar courses. In determining the
  contact hours attributable to students enrolled in a junior-level
  or senior-level course offered under this section used to determine
  a public junior college's proportionate share of state
  appropriations under Section 130.003, the coordinating board shall
  weigh those contact hours as necessary to provide the junior
  college the appropriate level of state support to the extent state
  funds for those courses are included in the appropriations. This
  subsection does not prohibit the legislature from directly
  appropriating state funds to support junior-level and senior-level
  courses offered under this section.
         (g-1)  For the first two years in which a degree program
  created under Subsection (b-4) is offered, the degree program may
  be funded solely by a public junior college's proportionate share
  of state appropriations under Section 130.003, local funds, and
  private sources.  This subsection does not require the legislature
  to appropriate state funds to support a degree program under
  Subsection (b-4).
         SECTION 2.  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, 2017.