The text as introduced · 624 words
89R3090 CXP-F
By: Cole
H.B. No. 1105
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. Subchapter D, Chapter 54, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 54.3532 to read as follows:
Sec. 54.3532. PARAMEDICS ENROLLED IN CERTAIN COURSES. (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 an emergency
medical services curriculum who is employed as a paramedic by a
political subdivision of this state.
(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 provided 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) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the governing board of
an institution of higher education is not required to provide an
exemption under this section for a course offered exclusively
through distance education to a number of students enrolled in the
course in excess of 20 percent of the maximum student enrollment
designated by the institution for that course.
(g) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall
adopt:
(1) rules governing the granting or denial of an
exemption provided 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 (f) 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 provided under this section.
SECTION 2. (a) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating
Board shall adopt the rules required by Section 54.3532, Education
Code, as added by this Act, as soon as practicable after the
effective date of this Act.
(b) Section 54.3532, Education Code, as added by this Act,
applies beginning with tuition and laboratory fees charged for the
2025 fall semester. Tuition and laboratory fees charged for an
academic period before that semester are governed 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 3. 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, 2025.
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