87R3164 CXP-F
 
  By: Cole, Toth, VanDeaver, Howard, Lopez, H.B. No. 582
      et al.
 
 
 
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.  Subchapter D, Chapter 54, Education Code, is
  amended by adding Section 54.3532 to read as follows:
         Sec. 54.3532.  PARAMEDICS ENROLLED IN CERTAIN COURSES. (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 an emergency
  medical services curriculum who is employed as a paramedic by a
  political subdivision of this state.
         (b)  An exemption provided under this section does not apply
  to deposits that may be required in the nature of security for the
  return or proper care of property loaned for the use of students.
         (c)  Notwithstanding Subsection (a), a student who for a
  semester or term at an institution of higher education receives an
  exemption provided under this section may continue to receive the
  exemption for a subsequent semester or term at any institution only
  if the student makes satisfactory academic progress toward a degree
  or certificate at that institution as determined by the institution
  for purposes of financial aid.
         (d)  Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the exemption provided
  under this section does not apply to any amount of additional
  tuition the institution elects to charge a resident undergraduate
  student under Section 54.014(a) or (f).
         (e)  Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the exemption provided
  under this section does not apply to any amount of tuition the
  institution charges a graduate student in excess of the amount of
  tuition charged to similarly situated graduate students because the
  student has a number of semester credit hours of doctoral work in
  excess of the applicable number provided by Section 61.059(l)(1) or
  (2).
         (f)  Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the governing board of
  an institution of higher education is not required to provide an
  exemption under this section for a course offered exclusively
  through distance education to a number of students enrolled in the
  course in excess of 20 percent of the maximum student enrollment
  designated by the institution for that course.
         (g)  The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall
  adopt:
               (1)  rules governing the granting or denial of an
  exemption provided 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 (f) 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 provided under this section.
         SECTION 2.  (a) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating
  Board shall adopt the rules required by Section 54.3532, Education
  Code, as added by this Act, as soon as practicable after the
  effective date of this Act.
         (b)  Section 54.3532, Education Code, as added by this Act,
  applies beginning with tuition and laboratory fees charged for the
  2021 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 3.  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, 2021.