Bill Text: TX HB1105 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to the exemption of tuition and laboratory fees at public institutions of higher education for certain paramedics.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-11-12 - Filed [HB1105 Detail]
Download: Texas-2025-HB1105-Introduced.html
| 89R3090 CXP-F | ||
| By: Cole | H.B. No. 1105 | |
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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. 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. | ||
