Bill Text: TX HB2994 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Relating to workforce continuing education offered by public junior colleges.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 6-2)
Status: (Passed) 2017-06-09 - Effective on 9/1/17 [HB2994 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-HB2994-Enrolled.html
H.B. No. 2994 |
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relating to workforce continuing education offered by public junior | ||
colleges. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Chapter 130, Education Code, is amended by | ||
adding Subchapter L to read as follows: | ||
SUBCHAPTER L. WORKFORCE CONTINUING EDUCATION | ||
Sec. 130.301. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter: | ||
(1) "Adult" means a person who: | ||
(A) has completed the person's sophomore year of | ||
high school; | ||
(B) is 17 years of age and has been awarded a high | ||
school diploma or its equivalent; or | ||
(C) is 18 years of age or older, regardless of the | ||
person's previous educational experience. | ||
(2) "Avocational course" means a course of study in a | ||
subject or activity that is usually engaged in by a person in | ||
addition to the person's regular work or profession for recreation | ||
or in relation to a hobby. The term includes a community interest | ||
course. | ||
(3) "Coordinating board" means the Texas Higher | ||
Education Coordinating Board. | ||
(4) "Workforce continuing education" means a program | ||
of instruction that: | ||
(A) is designed primarily for adults; and | ||
(B) is intended, on completion by a participant, | ||
to prepare the participant to qualify to apply for and accept an | ||
employment offer or a job upgrade within a specific occupational | ||
category or to bring the participant's knowledge or skills up to | ||
date on new developments in a particular occupation or profession. | ||
(5) "Workforce continuing education course" means a | ||
course of instruction in workforce continuing education that is | ||
approved by the coordinating board. The term does not include an | ||
avocational course. | ||
Sec. 130.302. FORMULA FUNDING FOR WORKFORCE CONTINUING | ||
EDUCATION COURSES. Notwithstanding Section 130.003 or any other | ||
law, contact hours attributable to the enrollment of a student in a | ||
workforce continuing education course offered by a public junior | ||
college shall be included in the contact hours used to determine the | ||
college's proportionate share of state money appropriated and | ||
distributed to public junior colleges under Sections 130.003 and | ||
130.0031, regardless of whether the college waives all or part of | ||
the tuition or fees for the course under Section 130.304. | ||
Sec. 130.303. WORKFORCE CONTINUING EDUCATION FOR HIGH | ||
SCHOOL STUDENTS. (a) A public junior college may offer, or may | ||
enter into an agreement with a school district, organization, or | ||
other person that operates a high school to offer, workforce | ||
continuing education courses other than learning framework | ||
courses, basic employability courses, and basic learning skills | ||
courses to a person who: | ||
(1) is enrolled in high school on the completion of the | ||
person's sophomore year; | ||
(2) is enrolled in a school that is not formally | ||
organized as a high school and is at least 16 years of age; or | ||
(3) is attending high school while incarcerated, is at | ||
least 16 years of age, and is not eligible for release from | ||
incarceration before the person's 18th birthday. | ||
(b) This section does not prohibit a public junior college | ||
from offering community interest continuing education courses | ||
using local funds. | ||
Sec. 130.304. WAIVER OF TUITION AND FEES FOR WORKFORCE | ||
CONTINUING EDUCATION COURSES. A public junior college may waive | ||
all or part of the tuition or fees charged to a student for a | ||
workforce continuing education course only if: | ||
(1) the student: | ||
(A) is enrolled in high school or in a school | ||
described by Section 130.303(a)(2); | ||
(B) is 16 years of age or older, has had the | ||
disabilities of minority removed, and is not enrolled in secondary | ||
education; or | ||
(C) is under the age of 18 and is incarcerated; | ||
(2) all or a significant portion of the college's costs | ||
for facilities, instructor salaries, equipment, and other expenses | ||
for the course are covered by business, industry, or other local | ||
public or private entities; or | ||
(3) the course is taught in a federal correctional | ||
facility and the facilities, equipment, supplies, and other | ||
expenses for the course are funded by the federal government. | ||
Sec. 130.305. RULES. The coordinating board shall adopt | ||
any rules the coordinating board considers necessary for the | ||
administration of this subchapter. In adopting those rules, the | ||
coordinating board shall use the negotiated rulemaking procedures | ||
under Chapter 2008, Government Code. | ||
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017. | ||
______________________________ | ______________________________ | |
President of the Senate | Speaker of the House | |
I certify that H.B. No. 2994 was passed by the House on April | ||
28, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 130, Nays 2, 4 present, not | ||
voting; that the House refused to concur in Senate amendments to | ||
H.B. No. 2994 on May 26, 2017, and requested the appointment of a | ||
conference committee to consider the differences between the two | ||
houses; and that the House adopted the conference committee report | ||
on H.B. No. 2994 on May 28, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 146, | ||
Nays 1, 1 present, not voting. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Chief Clerk of the House | ||
I certify that H.B. No. 2994 was passed by the Senate, with | ||
amendments, on May 22, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 28, Nays | ||
3; at the request of the House, the Senate appointed a conference | ||
committee to consider the differences between the two houses; and | ||
that the Senate adopted the conference committee report on H.B. No. | ||
2994 on May 28, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Secretary of the Senate | ||
APPROVED: __________________ | ||
Date | ||
__________________ | ||
Governor |