85R14246 JRJ-F
	By: Muñoz, Jr.	H.B. No. 2902

	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to authorization by the Texas Higher Education
	Coordinating Board for certain public junior colleges to offer
	baccalaureate degree programs.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Section 130.0012, Education Code, is amended by
	amending Subsections (a), (d), (e), and (g) and adding Subsections
	(b-4), (b-5), (e-1), and (g-1) to read as follows:
	(a)  The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board may
	[shall] authorize public junior colleges to offer baccalaureate
	degree programs in the fields of applied science, [and] applied
	technology, and nursing under this section. Offering a
	baccalaureate degree program under this section does not otherwise
	alter the role and mission of a public junior college.
	(b-4)  The coordinating board shall establish a pilot
	project to examine the feasibility and effectiveness of authorizing
	a baccalaureate degree program in the field of nursing to be offered
	by the South Texas Community College District if it has
	demonstrated a workforce need.
	(b-5)  Not later than January 1, 2019, the coordinating board
	shall prepare a progress report on the pilot project established
	under Subsection (b-4). Not later than January 1, 2021, the
	coordinating board shall prepare a report on the effectiveness of
	the pilot project, including any recommendations for legislative
	action regarding the offering of baccalaureate degree programs in
	the field of nursing by a public junior college. The coordinating
	board shall deliver a copy of each report to the governor, the
	lieutenant governor, the speaker of the house of representatives,
	and the chair of the standing committee of each house of the
	legislature with primary jurisdiction over higher education.
	Unless the authority to continue offering a baccalaureate degree
	program in the field of nursing is continued by the legislature, a
	public junior college may not:
	(1)  enroll a new student in a baccalaureate degree
	program under the pilot project after the 2022 fall semester;
	(2)  offer junior-level or senior-level courses for
	those degree programs after the 2025 fall semester, unless the
	coordinating board authorizes the college to offer those courses;
	or
	(3)  award a baccalaureate degree under the pilot
	project after the 2025 fall semester, unless the coordinating board
	approves the awarding of the degree.
	(d)  A public junior college offering a baccalaureate degree
	program under this section may not offer more than six [five]
	baccalaureate degree programs at any time.  The degree programs are
	subject to the continuing approval of the coordinating board.
	(e)  In determining whether a public junior college may offer
	[what] baccalaureate degree programs and what degree programs may
	[are to] be offered, the coordinating board shall:
	(1)  apply the same criteria and standards the
	coordinating board uses to approve baccalaureate degree programs at
	general academic teaching institutions; and
	(2)  consider the following factors:
	(A) [(1)]  the workforce need for the degree
	programs in the region served by the junior college;
	(B) [(2)]  how those degree programs would
	complement the other programs and course offerings of the junior
	college and whether the associate degree program offered by the
	junior college in the same field has been successful;
	(C) [(3)]  whether those degree programs would
	unnecessarily duplicate the degree programs offered by other
	institutions of higher education; and
	(D) [(4)]  the ability of the junior college to
	support the degree programs with student enrollment [program] and
	the adequacy of the junior college's facilities, faculty,
	administration, libraries, and other resources.
	(e-1)  A public junior college may offer a baccalaureate
	degree program under this section only if its junior college
	district meets the taxable property valuation amount established in
	Section 130.032.
	(g)  Except as provided by Subsection (g-1), in [In] its
	recommendations to the legislature relating to state funding for
	public junior colleges, the coordinating board shall recommend that
	a public junior college receive substantially the same state
	support for junior-level and senior-level courses offered under
	this section as that provided to a general academic teaching
	institution for substantially similar courses. In determining the
	contact hours attributable to students enrolled in a junior-level
	or senior-level course offered under this section used to determine
	a public junior college's proportionate share of state
	appropriations under Section 130.003, the coordinating board shall
	weigh those contact hours as necessary to provide the junior
	college the appropriate level of state support to the extent state
	funds for those courses are included in the appropriations. This
	subsection does not prohibit the legislature from directly
	appropriating state funds to support junior-level and senior-level
	courses offered under this section.
	(g-1)  For the first two years in which a degree program
	created under Subsection (b-4) is offered, the degree program may
	be funded solely by a public junior college's proportionate share
	of state appropriations under Section 130.003, local funds, and
	private sources.  This subsection does not require the legislature
	to appropriate state funds to support a degree program under
	Subsection (b-4).
	SECTION 2.  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, 2017.