BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 2231

By: Watson

Higher Education

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

It has been suggested that exempting certain paramedics from tuition and laboratory fees at public institutions of higher education would honor their service to the state and be of great public benefit. S.B. 2231 seeks to provide for such an exemption.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in SECTION 2 of this bill.

ANALYSIS

S.B. 2231 amends the Education Code to require the governing board of a public institution of higher education to exempt from the payment of tuition and laboratory fees any student enrolled in one or more courses offered as part of a fire science curriculum who is employed as a paramedic by a political subdivision of the state. The bill authorizes such a governing board, in accordance with Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board rule, to exclude from that exemption a course that is offered through distance education. The bill requires the coordinating board to adopt rules prescribing the educational attainment or level of certification necessary to qualify for the exemption and rules relating to that exclusion, including prescribing the maximum number of distance education courses that may be excluded. The bill's provisions apply beginning with fees charged for the 2019 fall semester.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2019.