By: Watson  S.B. No. 2231
         (In the Senate - Filed March 8, 2019; March 21, 2019, read
  first time and referred to Committee on Higher Education;
  April 26, 2019, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
  Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 9, Nays 0; April 26, 2019,
  sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
  COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 2231 By:  Watson
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to the exemption of tuition and laboratory fees at public
  institutions of higher education for certain paramedics.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  The heading to Section 54.353, Education Code,
  is amended to read as follows:
         Sec. 54.353.  FIREFIGHTERS OR PARAMEDICS ENROLLED IN FIRE
  SCIENCE COURSES.
         SECTION 2.  Section 54.353, Education Code, is amended by
  amending Subsections (a) and (f) and adding Subsection (e-1) to
  read as follows:
         (a)  The governing board of an institution of higher
  education shall 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:
               (1)  is employed as a firefighter or a paramedic by a
  political subdivision of this state; or
               (2)  is currently, and has been for at least one year,
  an active member of an organized volunteer fire department
  participating in the Texas Emergency Services Retirement System or
  a retirement system established under the Texas Local Fire Fighters
  Retirement Act (Article 6243e, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes) and
  who holds:
                     (A)  an Accredited Advanced level of
  certification, or an equivalent successor certification, under the
  State Firemen's and Fire Marshals' Association of Texas volunteer
  certification program; or
                     (B)  Phase V (Firefighter II) certification, or an
  equivalent successor certification, under the Texas Commission on
  Fire Protection's voluntary certification program under Section
  419.071, Government Code.
         (e-1)  Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the governing board
  of an institution of higher education may, in accordance with Texas
  Higher Education Coordinating Board rule, exclude from the
  exemption under this section a course that is offered through
  distance education.
         (f)  The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall
  adopt:
               (1)  rules governing the granting or denial of an
  exemption under this section, including rules:
                     (A)  prescribing the educational attainment or
  level of certification necessary to qualify for an exemption as a
  paramedic;
                     (B)  relating to the determination of a student's
  eligibility for an exemption; and
                     (C)  relating to the exclusion from the exemption
  under Subsection (e-1) of a distance education course, including
  prescribing the maximum number of distance education courses that
  may be excluded from the exemption under that subsection; and
               (2)  a uniform listing of degree programs covered by
  the exemption under this section.
         SECTION 3.  (a)  The Texas Higher Education Coordinating
  Board shall adopt the rules required by Section 54.353(f),
  Education Code, as amended by this Act, as soon as practicable after
  the effective date of this Act.
         (b)  Section 54.353, Education Code, as amended by this Act,
  applies beginning with tuition and laboratory fees charged for the
  2019 fall semester.  Tuition and laboratory fees charged for an
  academic period before that semester are covered by the law in
  effect immediately before the effective date of this Act, and the
  former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 4.  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, 2019.
 
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