Bill Text: TX SB2231 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Relating to the exemption of tuition and laboratory fees at public institutions of higher education for certain paramedics.

Sponsorship: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2019-05-21 - Placed on General State Calendar [SB2231 Detail]

Download: Texas-2019-SB2231-Comm_Sub.html

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By: Watson, et al. S.B. No. 2231
(Cole, Howard, Toth, Guillen, Dutton, et al.)

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the exemption of tuition and laboratory fees at public
institutions of higher education for certain paramedics.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Section 54.353, Education Code,
is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 54.353. FIREFIGHTERS OR PARAMEDICS ENROLLED IN FIRE
SCIENCE COURSES.
SECTION 2. Section 54.353, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a) and (f) and adding Subsection (e-1) to
read as follows:
(a) The governing board of an institution of higher
education shall exempt from the payment of tuition and laboratory
fees any student enrolled in one or more courses offered as part of
a fire science curriculum who:
(1) is employed as a firefighter or a paramedic by a
political subdivision of this state; or
(2) is currently, and has been for at least one year,
an active member of an organized volunteer fire department
participating in the Texas Emergency Services Retirement System or
a retirement system established under the Texas Local Fire Fighters
Retirement Act (Article 6243e, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes) and
who holds:
(A) an Accredited Advanced level of
certification, or an equivalent successor certification, under the
State Firemen's and Fire Marshals' Association of Texas volunteer
certification program; or
(B) Phase V (Firefighter II) certification, or an
equivalent successor certification, under the Texas Commission on
Fire Protection's voluntary certification program under Section
419.071, Government Code.
(e-1) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the governing board
of an institution of higher education may, in accordance with Texas
Higher Education Coordinating Board rule, exclude from the
exemption under this section a course that is offered through
distance education.
(f) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall
adopt:
(1) rules governing the granting or denial of an
exemption under this section, including rules:
(A) prescribing the educational attainment or
level of certification necessary to qualify for an exemption as a
paramedic;
(B) relating to the determination of a student's
eligibility for an exemption; and
(C) relating to the exclusion from the exemption
under Subsection (e-1) of a distance education course, including
prescribing the maximum number of distance education courses that
may be excluded from the exemption under that subsection; and
(2) a uniform listing of degree programs covered by
the exemption under this section.
SECTION 3. (a) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating
Board shall adopt the rules required by Section 54.353(f),
Education Code, as amended by this Act, as soon as practicable after
the effective date of this Act.
(b) Section 54.353, Education Code, as amended by this Act,
applies beginning with tuition and laboratory fees charged for the
2019 fall semester. Tuition and laboratory 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 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, 2019.