Bill Text: TX SB2231 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Relating to the exemption of tuition and laboratory fees at public institutions of higher education for certain paramedics.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2019-05-21 - Placed on General State Calendar [SB2231 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-SB2231-Comm_Sub.html
By: Watson, et al. | S.B. No. 2231 | |
(Cole, Howard, Toth, Guillen, Dutton, et al.) | ||
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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. |