Bill Text: TX HCR40 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Expressing support for the Texas Dream Act and urging other U.S. states to enact similar legislation.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-03-05 - Referred to State Affairs [HCR40 Detail]
Download: Texas-2015-HCR40-Introduced.html
| 84R6016 BK-D | ||
| By: Anchia | H.C.R. No. 40 | |
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| WHEREAS, The American dream holds that there are no limits to | ||
| what one can achieve through hard work and individual merit, and for | ||
| a great majority of Americans, a quality education is integrally | ||
| linked to future success; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Although the advantages that a higher education | ||
| affords are well known, immigrant students across much of the | ||
| country are impeded in their efforts to take this crucial step in | ||
| their career paths; brought to the United States as children, these | ||
| youths have hopes and aspirations like their U.S.-born peers, and | ||
| their numbers include valedictorians, honor students, and student | ||
| body leaders; they had no choice in their parents' decision to enter | ||
| the United States, yet with few options for allaying the cost of | ||
| tuition, they are uniquely limited in their ability to pursue a | ||
| postsecondary education that would allow them meaningful | ||
| integration into the workforce; and | ||
| WHEREAS, In 2001, Texas became the first state to adopt a law, | ||
| H.B. 1403, 77th Legislature, Regular Session, that allowed all | ||
| resident students, regardless of immigration status, to qualify for | ||
| in-state tuition and financial aid at public colleges and | ||
| universities; passed with bipartisan support and later known as the | ||
| Texas Dream Act, this landmark measure has since inspired the | ||
| creation of similar laws, with more than a dozen other states now | ||
| extending in-state tuition rates to undocumented youths; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The reforms introduced by the Texas Dream Act | ||
| represent sound fiscal policy, as immigrants constitute a talented, | ||
| multilingual, and multicultural subset of workers who bring | ||
| valuable skills to an increasingly global economy; such policy | ||
| allows taxpayers to see a return on years of investment in the | ||
| public school education of these individuals, for by improving | ||
| their earning potential, they will in turn provide for a more robust | ||
| tax base; and | ||
| WHEREAS, According to a 2006 report by the Office of the Texas | ||
| Comptroller of Public Accounts, undocumented immigrants in Texas in | ||
| 2005 generated more in state revenue than they received in state | ||
| services; in the 2010 fiscal year, close to 16,500 undocumented | ||
| immigrant students qualified for in-state tuition, and the students | ||
| themselves paid $32.7 million in tuition and related expenses; were | ||
| these students to be deprived of the incentives offered by the Texas | ||
| Dream Act, the loss to the Texas economy would be considerable, as | ||
| workers with lower levels of education earn drastically reduced | ||
| wages on average and face significantly higher rates of | ||
| unemployment, forcing them to rely more heavily on social services; | ||
| and | ||
| WHEREAS, The strength of our economy rests on an educated | ||
| workforce, and the Texas Dream Act provides a commonsense approach | ||
| to ensure that intelligent and enterprising youth have access to | ||
| the training and education that businesses need; now, therefore, be | ||
| it | ||
| RESOLVED, That the 84th Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
| hereby affirm its support for the Texas Dream Act and urge all other | ||
| U.S. states to enact similar legislation. | ||
