bill waives tuition for local government paramedics

The text as introduced · 626 words

89R3090 CXP-F

By: Eckhardt, et al.
S.B. No. 750

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.