By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 1323

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the academic costs charged to resident undergraduate students by general academic teaching institutions and to certain reports regarding certain costs of those institutions.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 54, Education Code, is amended by adding Section 54.018 to read as follows:

Sec. 54.018. LIMITATION ON INCREASE IN TOTAL ACADEMIC COSTS CHARGED TO RESIDENT UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS. (a) In this section:

(1) "General academic teaching institution" has the meaning assigned by Section 61.003.

(2) "Core operational costs" means those costs as estimated by the Legislative Budget Board under Section 51.979.

(3) "Total academic costs":

(A) includes:

(i) tuition for which the rates are prescribed by this chapter;

(ii) tuition charged by a general academic teaching institution under Section 54.0513 or another law authorizing a general academic teaching institution to establish tuition rates;

(iii) mandatory academic fees; and

(iv) any other academic-related general fees and course fees, including fees for laboratories, field trips, access to Internet or multimedia service, equipment replacement, and instructional technology; and

(B) does not include optional fees charged to a student for voluntary services or a fee approved by students of the institution in a referendum held at the institution for that purpose.

(b) If for any state fiscal biennium the legislature appropriates to a general academic teaching institution from undedicated general revenue an amount that is less than the amount necessary to fully fund the institution's core operational costs for that biennium, the total academic costs charged by the institution to undergraduate students who are residents of this state for an academic year of that biennium may not exceed the amount that, when added to the amount of undedicated general revenue appropriated to the institution for the corresponding state fiscal year for that purpose, is equal to the institution's core operational costs for that corresponding state fiscal year.

(c) Notwithstanding Section 54.0513(c), the legislature in an appropriations Act may provide for an adjustment of general revenue appropriated to a general academic teaching institution for a state fiscal year to account for an increase in the amount of total academic costs charged by the institution in that fiscal year to an individual student of the institution to whom this section applies, in excess of an amount specified in the appropriations Act, if the legislature specifies such an amount in that Act.

(d) For purposes of this section, students are similarly situated if they share the same residency status, degree program, course load, course level, tuition exemption status, and other circumstances affecting the total academic costs charged to the student.

(e) This section does not ensure that the total academic costs charged to an individual student will not increase by more than the limitation prescribed by Subsection (b) based on a change in the student's residency status, degree program, course load, course level, tuition exemption status, or other circumstance affecting the total academic costs charged to the student.

SECTION 2. Section 54.0513, Education Code, is amended by amending Subsection (c) as follows:

(c) Amounts collected by an institution of higher education under this section are institutional funds as defined by Section 51.009 [of this code] and shall be accounted for as designated funds. These funds shall not be accounted for in a general appropriations act in such a way as to reduce the general revenue appropriation to a particular institution except as provided by Section 54.018(c).

SECTION 3. Subchapter Z, Chapter 51, Education Code, is amended by adding Section 51.979 to read as follows:

Sec. 51.979. BIENNIAL REPORT BY LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD REGARDING CERTAIN UNIVERSITY COSTS. (a) Not later than September 1 of each even-numbered year, the Legislative Budget Board shall submit to the Senate Finance Committee, the House Appropriations Committee, and the standing committee of each house with primary jurisdiction over higher education for consideration by the members of those committees in determining the amount of general revenue appropriations to general academic teaching institutions and tuition rates at those institutions, the Legislative Budget Board's estimate of the core operational costs for the next state fiscal biennium for each general academic teaching institution, based on a methodology that:

(1) projects for each year of the next biennium:

(A) changes in student enrollment for each institution; and

(B) a rate of inflation; and

(2) uses data from each institution's annual financial report regarding costs for instruction, academic support, institutional support, operations and maintenance of physical plants, and student services.

(b) The Legislative Budget Board shall submit with its estimate under Subsection (a)(1) a comparison of each institution's actual core operational costs for the preceding state fiscal biennium to the board's previous estimate of the institution's core operational costs for that biennium.

SECTION 4. Not later than September 1, 2018, each general academic teaching institution shall submit to the Legislative Budget Board, the Senate Committee on Finance, the House Appropriations Committee, and the standing committee of each house with primary jurisdiction over higher education a detailed plan for reducing the institution's operational costs by at least five percent.

SECTION 5. 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.