| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to resident tuition rates and fees at public institutions |
|
|
of higher education for certain veterans and their spouses and |
|
|
children. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 54.058, Education Code, is amended by |
|
|
adding Subsections (k) and (l) to read as follows: |
|
|
(k) A person is entitled to pay tuition and fees at an |
|
|
institution of higher education at the rates provided for Texas |
|
|
residents without regard to the length of time the person has |
|
|
resided in this state if the person files with the institution at |
|
|
which the person intends to register a letter of intent to establish |
|
|
residence in this state and resides in this state while enrolled in |
|
|
the institution and the person: |
|
|
(1) is eligible for benefits under the federal |
|
|
Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 (38 U.S.C. |
|
|
Section 3301 et seq.) or any other federal law authorizing |
|
|
educational benefits for veterans; |
|
|
(2) is the spouse of a person described by Subdivision |
|
|
(1); or |
|
|
(3) is a child of a person described by Subdivision (1) |
|
|
who is 25 years of age or younger on the first day of the semester or |
|
|
other academic term for which the person is registering, except |
|
|
that the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board by rule shall |
|
|
prescribe procedures by which a person who suffered from a severe |
|
|
illness or other debilitating condition that affected the person's |
|
|
ability to use the benefit provided by this subsection before |
|
|
reaching that age may be granted additional time to use the benefit |
|
|
corresponding to the time the person was unable to use the benefit |
|
|
because of the illness or condition. |
|
|
(l) In this section, "child" includes a stepchild. |
|
|
SECTION 2. Subsection (k), Section 54.058, Education Code, |
|
|
as added by this Act, applies beginning with tuition and other fees |
|
|
charged for the 2009 fall semester. Tuition and other 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. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board |
|
|
shall adopt the rules required by Subdivision (3), Subsection (k), |
|
|
Section 54.058, Education Code, as added by this Act, as soon as |
|
|
practicable after this Act takes effect. For that purpose, the |
|
|
coordinating board may adopt the initial rules in the manner |
|
|
provided by law for emergency rules. |
|
|
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, 2009. |