Bill Text: TX HB3987 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Enrolled

---

Bill Title: Relating to programs in public schools designed to facilitate planning and saving for higher education and facilitate personal financial literacy instruction.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 4-1)

Status: (Passed) 2015-06-20 - Effective immediately [HB3987 Detail]

Download: Texas-2015-HB3987-Enrolled.html

---

H.B. No. 3987

AN ACT
relating to programs in public schools designed to facilitate
planning and saving for higher education and facilitate personal
financial literacy instruction.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 28, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 28.0024 to read as follows:
Sec. 28.0024. SCHOOL-BASED SAVINGS PROGRAM. (a) A school
district or open-enrollment charter school may establish a
school-based savings program to facilitate increased awareness of
the importance of saving for higher education and facilitate
personal financial literacy instruction. A district or school may
offer the program in conjunction with a personal financial literacy
course under Section 28.0021.
(b) A school-based savings program may, through
partnerships with appropriate institutions, promote:
(1) general savings, by offering savings accounts or
certificates of deposit through partner financial institutions; or
(2) savings dedicated for higher education, by
offering through partner institutions the following accounts or
bonds the primary purpose of which must be to pay expenses
associated with higher education:
(A) an account authorized under Section 529,
Internal Revenue Code of 1986;
(B) a Coverdell education savings account
established under 26 U.S.C. Section 530;
(C) a certificate of deposit;
(D) a savings account; and
(E) a Series I savings bond.
(c) A district or school establishing a program under this
section:
(1) shall seek to establish partnerships with
appropriate institutions that are able to offer an account or bond
under Subsection (b); and
(2) may seek to establish partnerships with public
sector partners, private businesses, nonprofit organizations, and
philanthropic organizations in the community.
(d) A partnership established under Subsection (c) between
a district or school and:
(1) an appropriate institution may allow a student in
the program or the student and an adult in the student's family
jointly to have an opportunity to establish an account or purchase a
bond under Subsection (b); and
(2) an appropriate institution, public sector
partner, private business, or nonprofit or philanthropic
organization may provide:
(A) a structure for the management of the
program; and
(B) incentives that encourage contribution to a
school-based account or purchase of a bond under Subsection (b),
including incentives that provide matching funds or seed funding.
SECTION 2. Section 56.007, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 56.007. EXCLUSION OF ASSETS IN PREPAID TUITION
PROGRAMS AND HIGHER EDUCATION SAVINGS PLANS. (a) Notwithstanding
any other law, the right of a person to assets held in or the right
to receive payments or benefits under any fund or plan established
under Subchapter G, H, or I, Chapter 54, including an interest in a
savings trust account, prepaid tuition account, or related matching
account, or any school-based account or bond described by Section
28.0024(b)(2), may not be considered an asset of the person, or
otherwise included in the person's household income or other
financial resources, for purposes of determining the person's
eligibility for a TEXAS grant or any other state-funded student
financial assistance.
(b) The amount of exclusion under Subsection (a) of assets
held in or the right to receive payments or benefits under a
school-based account or bond described by Section 28.0024(b)(2),
except a fund or plan established under Subchapter G, H, or I,
Chapter 54, as a school-based account, is limited to the amount of
the cost of undergraduate resident tuition and required fees for
one academic year consisting of 30 semester credit hours charged by
the general academic teaching institution with the highest such
tuition and fee costs for the most recent academic year, as
determined by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board under
Section 54.753.
SECTION 3. Section 31.0039, Human Resources Code, as
amended by S.B. No. 219, Acts of the 84th Legislature, Regular
Session, 2015, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 31.0039. EXCLUSION OF ASSETS IN PREPAID TUITION
PROGRAMS AND HIGHER EDUCATION SAVINGS PLANS. (a) For purposes of
determining the amount of financial assistance granted to an
individual under this chapter for the support of dependent children
or determining whether the family meets household income and
resource requirements for financial assistance under this chapter,
the commission may not consider the right to assets held in or the
right to receive payments or benefits under:
(1) any fund or plan established under Subchapter G,
H, or I, Chapter 54, Education Code, including an interest in a
savings trust account, prepaid tuition contract, or related
matching account; [or]
(2) any qualified tuition program of any state that
meets the requirements of Section 529, Internal Revenue Code of
1986; or
(3) any school-based account or bond described by
Section 28.0024(b)(2), Education Code.
(b) The amount of exclusion under Subsection (a)(3) of
assets held in or the right to receive payments or benefits under a
school-based account or bond described by Section
28.0024(b)(2)(C), (D), or (E), Education Code, is limited to the
amount of the cost of undergraduate resident tuition and required
fees for one academic year consisting of 30 semester credit hours
charged by the general academic teaching institution with the
highest such tuition and fee costs for the most recent academic
year, as determined by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating
Board under Section 54.753, Education Code.
SECTION 4. Section 32.02611, Human Resources Code, as
amended by S.B. No. 219, Acts of the 84th Legislature, Regular
Session, 2015, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 32.02611. EXCLUSION OF ASSETS IN PREPAID TUITION
PROGRAMS AND HIGHER EDUCATION SAVINGS PLANS. (a) Except as
provided by Subsection (b), in determining eligibility and need for
medical assistance, the commission may not consider as assets or
resources, to the extent applicable under federal law, a right to
assets held in or a right to receive payments or benefits under:
(1) any fund or plan established under Subchapter G,
H, or I, Chapter 54, Education Code, including an interest in a
savings trust account, prepaid tuition contract, or related
matching account; [or]
(2) any qualified tuition program of any state that
meets the requirements of Section 529, Internal Revenue Code of
1986; or
(3) any school-based account or bond described by
Section 28.0024(b)(2), Education Code.
(a-1) The amount of exclusion under Subsection (a)(3) of
assets held in or the right to receive payments or benefits under a
school-based account or bond described by Section
28.0024(b)(2)(C), (D), or (E), Education Code, is limited to the
amount of the cost of undergraduate resident tuition and required
fees for one academic year consisting of 30 semester credit hours
charged by the general academic teaching institution with the
highest such tuition and fee costs for the most recent academic
year, as determined by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating
Board under Section 54.753, Education Code.
(b) In determining eligibility and need for medical
assistance for an applicant who may be eligible on the basis of the
applicant's eligibility for medical assistance for the aged, blind,
or disabled under 42 U.S.C. Section 1396a(a)(10), the commission
may consider as assets or resources, to the extent applicable under
federal law, a right to assets held in or a right to receive
payments or benefits under any fund, account, bond, plan, or
tuition program described by Subsection (a).
(c) Notwithstanding Subsection (b), the commission shall
seek a federal waiver authorizing the commission to exclude, for
purposes of determining the eligibility of an applicant described
by that subsection and to the extent included under federal law, the
right to assets held in or a right to receive payments or benefits
under any fund, account, bond, plan, or tuition program described
by Subsection (a) if the fund, account, bond, plan, or tuition
program was established before the 21st birthday of the beneficiary
of the fund, account, bond, plan, or tuition program.
SECTION 5. Subchapter A, Chapter 33, Human Resources Code,
is amended by adding Section 33.0291 to read as follows:
Sec. 33.0291. EXCLUSION OF SCHOOL-BASED ACCOUNTS AND
CERTAIN BONDS. (a) For purposes of determining whether a person
meets family income and resource requirements for eligibility for
the supplemental nutrition assistance program, the commission may
not consider as income or resources a right to assets held in or a
right to receive payments or benefits under a school-based account
or bond described by Section 28.0024(b)(2), Education Code.
(b) The amount of exclusion under Subsection (a) of assets
held in or the right to receive payments or benefits under a
school-based account or bond described by Section
28.0024(b)(2)(C), (D), or (E), Education Code, is limited to the
amount of the cost of undergraduate resident tuition and required
fees for one academic year consisting of 30 semester credit hours
charged by the general academic teaching institution with the
highest such tuition and fee costs for the most recent academic
year, as determined by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating
Board under Section 54.753, Education Code.
SECTION 6. If before implementing any provision of this Act
a state agency determines that a waiver or authorization from a
federal agency is necessary for implementation of that provision,
the agency affected by the provision shall request the waiver or
authorization and may delay implementing that provision until the
waiver or authorization is granted.
SECTION 7. 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, 2015.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 3987 was passed by the House on May
13, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 129, Nays 13, 2 present, not
voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 3987 was passed by the Senate on May
27, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 29, Nays 2.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor