| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to requiring public institutions of higher education to |
|
|
offer an undergraduate course in financial literacy and soft |
|
|
skills. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 51.305, Education Code, is amended to |
|
|
read as follows: |
|
|
Sec. 51.305. PERSONAL FINANCIAL LITERACY AND SOFT SKILLS |
|
|
[TRAINING]. (a) In this section: |
|
|
(1) "Coordinating board" means the Texas Higher |
|
|
Education Coordinating Board. |
|
|
(2) "Institution of higher education" ["General |
|
|
academic teaching institution"] has the meaning assigned by Section |
|
|
61.003. |
|
|
(b) Each institution of higher education [The coordinating |
|
|
board by rule] shall offer an undergraduate elective course of |
|
|
three semester credit hours or the equivalent [: (1) require a |
|
|
general academic teaching institution to offer training] in |
|
|
personal financial literacy and soft skills. The course must be |
|
|
offered for credit toward satisfaction of a student's core |
|
|
curriculum requirement in social and behavioral sciences. |
|
|
(c) The personal financial literacy content provided under |
|
|
the course: |
|
|
(1) must include instruction in [to provide students |
|
|
of the institution with] the knowledge and skills necessary as a |
|
|
self-supporting adult [adults] to make critical decisions relating |
|
|
to personal financial matters; and |
|
|
(2) [determine the topics to be covered by the |
|
|
training, which] may include instruction in budgeting, credit |
|
|
cards, spending, saving, loan repayment and consolidation, taxes, |
|
|
retirement planning, insurance, and financing of health care and |
|
|
other benefits. |
|
|
(d) The soft skills content provided under the course must |
|
|
include instruction in: |
|
|
(1) workplace ethics and etiquette; |
|
|
(2) effective communication; |
|
|
(3) leadership; |
|
|
(4) organizational skills; |
|
|
(5) time management; |
|
|
(6) problem solving; |
|
|
(7) critical thinking; and |
|
|
(8) persistence. |
|
|
(e) [(c)] The coordinating board [by rule] may adopt rules |
|
|
for the administration of [provide for the training required under] |
|
|
this section [to be offered in an online course]. |
|
|
SECTION 2. Section 51.305, Education Code, as amended by |
|
|
this Act, applies beginning with the 2024 fall semester. |
|
|
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, 2023. |