81st Texas Legislature, Pre-Filing, Day 1: Higher Education

Bills that would address skyrocketing college tuition costs, taxes on textbooks, and bills that form the biannual assault on the Top Ten Percent Law that always seem to flood the Texas Legislature were all filed on the first day of pre-filing for the 81st Texas Legislature.

No less than three bills addressed tuition costs including SB 105, HB 21, and SB 214.

SB 105 by Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa (D-McAllen) essentially freezes tuition for students to not more than that of the previous academic year, except for allowable inflation adjustments. The bill essentially freezes tuition, sans inflation adjustments, at the 2008-2009 levels, and keeps the 2008-2009 freeze levels in effect through the 2010-2011 academic year (although it is uncelear if inflation adjudtments are allowed during this period).

HB 21 by State Rep. David Leibowitz (D-San Antonio): This legislation is a tuition-freeze bill, but it isn’t an across-the-board tuition freeze or complete tuition re-regulation. Instead, it freezes tuition for individual undergraduate students in higher ed institutions in four or five year cycles depending upon the length of the student’s degree program. In essence, it freezes a student’s tuition to what tuition was in the student’s first semester at the institution (changes, obviously, if you switch). The institutions (or, rather, governing boards) would still be free to raise tuition year by year or semester by semester, and new enrollees would pay the tuition price that is in effect for the semseter they first enroll through their first four or five years of college (depending upon the degree plan). In short, each year’s graduating class would essentially be paying a different rate of tuition if the school raised tuition costs each year.

SB 214 by State Sen. Leticia Van De Putte (D-San Antonio) places a five percent cap on annual tuition increases.

HB 20 by State Rep. David Leibowitz (D-San Antonio): This legislation would exempt from sales tax any books or textbooks for educational purposes which are bought by students and are required material for instruction at public and private post-secondary institutions in Texas. SB 22 by Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) similar, but designates a sales tax “holiday” for a period in August. SB 145 by State Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) is another textbook bill; it requires that any textbooks sold in “bundles” must also be sold separately to students or bookstores by the publisher of the text.

HB 38 by State Rep. Frank Corte (D-San Antonio): This piece of legislation is drafted quite interestingly. For one thing, it actually eleminates a fairly specific requirement for in-state tuition for retired or discharged members of the armed forces, their dependents, and spouses, if they meet certain other requirements. Of course, since HB 38 retools exactly one sentence in a very lengthy part of the Texas Education Code, all the bill shows is that it doesn’t require veterans who meet specific criteria for paying in-state tuition to comply with “Subsection (d),” while failing to say what (d) is. Basically, after a lovely trek through the Education Code, what this bill does is remove a lengthy list of “prove ups” and requirements for vets who were not assigned to duty in Texas but previously resided in Texas, and simply allows former armed forces members, their spouses, and dependents to pay in-state tuition for any semester that begins before the first anniversary of their separation from the military. It is almost unclear whether this legislation makes it easier for veterans to get the education benefits covered under the chapter or more difficult if they didn’t live in Texas at the time of their separation, but it appears it is designed to make it easier.

HB 50 by State Rep. Debbie Riddle (R-Tomball): This is both higher ed legislation and anti-immigrant legislation at the same time. It would provide that no person who is in the country illegally may be considered a Texas resident for the purpose of obtaining in-state college tuition. This will, of course, be a lightening rod of a bill because it would remove veterans of the armed forces who happen to be illegal immigrants from being able to obtain in-state tuition rates, which is a horse that has been beaten to death about 28 times in the last two years. We’re sure State Rep. Leo Berman (R-Tyler) is positively livid he didn’t beat Riddle to the punch on this one. SB 93 by State Sen. Leticia Van De Putte (D-San Antonio) is essentially the exact converse of this bill. It removes “citizen of [the state]” language from the Texas Education Code provisions relating to discounted college tuition to do away with some of the issues that have sparked controversy and attorney general opinions.

HB 51 by State Rep. Dan Branch (R-Dallas): This is one of the long-awaited “Tier One” research institution bills. The bill creates the Research University Development Program. Oddly enough, the bill provides no real funding mechanism for funding its goals. All it basically says is that the Higher Education Coordinating Board will determine an amount appropriate for the RUDP, ask the Legislature for that amount, and then distribute what is available in a manner consistent with the goals of the legislation.

HB 52 by State Rep. Dan Branch (R-Dallas): This bill is one of several biennial assaults on the “Top Ten Percent” program that guarantees that students who graduate in the top ten percent of their high school classes are guaranteed admission to the state’s colleges and universities. Branch’s bill would put a 40 percent cap per institution on the program, meaning that the institutions must set aside 40 percent of each incoming freshman class for top ten students, with no requirement they admit anything over and above that threshold. SB 175 by State Sen. Florence Shapiro (R-Plano) is a similar top-ten percent assault, but sets the cap at 50 percent.

HB 156 by State Rep. Beverly Woolley (R-Houston): This legislation would eleminate the automatic admission to certain public colleges and universities based upon a high grade point average. Yet another assault on college accessibility to poor, minority, and rural students by a Republican.

SB 41 by Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo): This legislation is something that grad students in Texas have desired for a long time. It provides the opportunity for certain grad students who hold post-doctoral or other fellowships valued at less than $10,000 annually and awarded competitively to qualify for enrollment in the group benefits program, i.e., employee health insurance.

SB 48 by Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo): This is anti-hazing legislation. In addition to altering and expanding the definition of hazing somewhat, it also provides immunity from both civil liability and criminal prosecution for the voluntary (i.e., not as part of a police investigation) reporting of hazing activity so long as it isn’t turning yourself in for hazing or reporting hazing for malicious reasons.

SB 73 by State Sen. Jane Nelson (D-Flower Mound): This legislation establishes an adult stem-cell research program and an accompanying coordinating board.

SB 113 by State Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston): This legislation extends to post-9/11 veterans, their spouses, and dependants the ability to pay in-state tuition regardless of their length of residence in their state so long as they maintain a domicle in the state during their enrollment.  SB 114 also by Ellis expands provisions applying to active-duty servicemen and reservists relating to their ability to pay in-state tuition regardless of lehgth of residence and expands the priovision to exempt them from fees except for room and board.

SB 191 by State Sen. Elliot Shapleigh (D-El Paso): This bill provides some tuition and fee exemptions and/or reductions for students eligible for automatic admission to Texas colleges and universities, with certain stipulations.

SB 194 by State Sen. Elliot Shapleigh (D-El Paso): This bill prohibits those working in financial aid offices at Texas’ colleges and universities from owning stock or interest in student loan lenders (unless via a mutual fund or similar vehicle) or from soliciting gifts from lenders. While it is a good bill, it seems it should have some type of filing requirement where financial aid office employees have to place on file a personal financial statement or at least an affidavit that they comply with that law with their employer or the Higher Education Coordinating Board. It is also unclear what might happen to current financial aid office employees who may hold such stock; there isn’t a grace period for divestment or a grandfather clause. Since this bill will likely be an important one this session considering scandals from the recent past involving college financial aid offices, we wonder what role this will play in the bill’s chances.

BILLS ESTABLISHING SPECIAL SCHOOLS/INSTITUTIONS: HB 59 by Branch would establish a law school in Dallas operated by UNT; HB 65 by Lucio III would establish the UT Health Science Center–South Texas and a UT medical school in Cameron County; HB 66 by Lucio III would establish a law school at UT-Brownsville; HB 91 by Mando Martinez would also establish law school in the Valley (Rio Grande Valley School of Law) but would leave it to the Higher Ed Coordinating Board to decide if it would be located in Cameron or Hidalgo County;

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