By: Eckhardt S.B. No. 200

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the period for which an applicant for admission as an undergraduate student to a public institution of higher education is entitled to an academic fresh start.

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

SECTION 1. Section 51.931(c), Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

(c) If an applicant elects to seek admission under this section, a public institution of higher education:

(1) [,] in considering the applicant for admission, may opt to [shall] not consider academic course credits or grades earned by the applicant five [10] or more years before [prior to] the starting date of the semester in which the applicant seeks to enroll; and

(2) if the institution enrolls the applicant as a student, shall award the applicant academic credit for a number of semester credit hours or the equivalent equal to the lesser of:

(A) the number of semester credit hours or the equivalent earned by the applicant during the period described by Subdivision (1); or

(B) six semester credit hours or the equivalent. [An applicant who makes the election to apply under this section and is admitted as a student may not receive any course credit for courses undertaken 10 or more years prior to enrollment under this section.]

SECTION 2. Section 61.0595(c), Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

(c) For a student enrolled in a baccalaureate program under Section 51.931, semester credit hours earned by the student five [10] or more years before the date the student begins the new degree program under Section 51.931 are not counted for purposes of determining whether the student has previously earned the number of semester credit hours specified by Subsection (a).

SECTION 3. Section 51.931(c), Education Code, as amended by this Act, applies beginning with admissions to a public institution of higher education for the 2023 fall semester.

SECTION 4. Section 61.0595(c), Education Code, as amended by this Act, applies beginning with funding recommendations made under Section 61.059, Education Code, for the state fiscal biennium beginning September 1, 2025, for semester credit hours earned by students enrolling in a baccalaureate degree program at a public institution of higher education under Section 51.931, Education Code, as added by this Act, for the 2023 fall semester or a subsequent semester or term. Funding recommendations for semester credit hours earned by a student who enrolled in a baccalaureate degree program at a public institution of higher education under Section 51.931, Education Code, as amended by this Act, before the 2023 fall semester are governed 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 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, 2023.