Bill Text: TX SB567 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relating to firefighters enrolled in fire science courses.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-04-17 - Committee report printed and distributed [SB567 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-SB567-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Relating to firefighters enrolled in fire science courses.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-04-17 - Committee report printed and distributed [SB567 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-SB567-Introduced.html
By: Springer | S.B. No. 567 | |
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relating to Firefighters Enrolled in Fire Science Courses | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Sec 54.353, Education Code, is amended 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 by a political subdivision | ||
of this state; or | ||
(2) a member in good standing in a volunteer firefighter | ||
department, registered with Texas Forest Service and providing 911 | ||
service to a designated area: |
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(i) attends at least 20 hours of annual training; | ||
(ii) attends or provides support services for at | ||
least 25 percent of the departments emergencies in a calendar | ||
year; and | ||
(iii) 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. | ||
(b) An exemption provided under this section does not apply | ||
to deposits that may be required in the nature of security for the | ||
return or proper care of property loaned for the use of students. | ||
(c) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), a student who for a | ||
semester or term at an institution of higher education receives an | ||
exemption under this section may continue to receive the exemption | ||
for a subsequent semester or term at any institution only if the | ||
student makes satisfactory academic progress toward a degree or | ||
certificate at that institution as determined by the institution | ||
for purposes of financial aid. | ||
(d) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the exemption provided | ||
under this section does not apply to any amount of additional | ||
tuition the institution elects to charge a resident undergraduate | ||
student under Section 54.014(a) or (f). | ||
(e) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the exemption provided | ||
under this section does not apply to any amount of tuition the | ||
institution charges a graduate student in excess of the amount of | ||
tuition charged to similarly situated graduate students because the | ||
student has a number of semester credit hours of doctoral work in | ||
excess of the applicable number provided by Section 61.059(l)(1) or | ||
(2). | ||
(f) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall | ||
adopt: | ||
(1) rules governing the granting or denial of an | ||
exemption under this section, including rules relating to the | ||
determination of a student's eligibility for an exemption; | ||
and | ||
(2) a uniform listing of degree programs covered by | ||
the exemption under this section. | ||
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023 |