BILL ANALYSIS

Senate Research Center	S.B. 1251
	By: Miles
	Higher Education
	6/1/2021
	Enrolled

AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

COVID-19 has brought to light the inequities and disparities within our healthcare systems in Texas. Population and public health would provide a solution to those issues by addressing ways that resources can be allocated to overcome the problems that drive poor health conditions in certain areas.

Currently, the Education Code allows The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center to administer joint graduate and doctoral degree programs with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in the fields of neoplastic and allied diseases. S.B. 1251 would amend the Education Code to allow the two institutions to provide joint population and public health educational programs.

The committee substitute simply cleans up language and aligns the senate version of the bill with the house version of the bill.

S.B. 1251 amends current law relating to authorizing certain joint graduate degree programs between The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1. Amends Section 73.102(b), Education Code, as follows:

(b) Authorizes the board of regents of The University of Texas System, if the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board determines that the role and mission of The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (M.D. Anderson) should be changed to include degree‑granting authority, to:

(1) makes a nonsubstantive change to this subdivision; and

(2) jointly prescribe courses and jointly conduct graduate programs at the master's and doctoral levels related to the purposes of M.D. Anderson with:

(A) creates this paragraph from existing text and makes a nonsubstantive change; and

(B) The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, with respect to graduate programs separately established at the health science center and related to the broad fields encompassed in population and public health.

SECTION 2. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2021.