Bill Text: TX HB771 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to a single common course numbering system for and the transfer of course credit among public institutions of higher education in this state.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-11-12 - Filed [HB771 Detail]

Download: Texas-2025-HB771-Introduced.html

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89R3643 CXP-D
By: Gervin-Hawkins H.B. No. 771

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a single common course numbering system for and the
transfer of course credit among public institutions of higher
education in this state.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 61.822, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a) and (b) and adding Subsection (f) to read
as follows:
(a) The board shall develop and implement a policy regarding
[encourage] the transferability of [lower division] course credit
among institutions of higher education.
(b) Each institution of higher education shall adopt a core
curriculum of not [no] less than 42 semester credit hours,
including specific courses composing [comprising] the curriculum.
The core curriculum shall be consistent with the single common
course numbering system approved by the board under Section
61.832(a) and with the statement, recommendations, and rules issued
by the board. An institution may have a core curriculum of other
than 42 semester credit hours only if approved by the board. The
board by rule may approve a core curriculum of fewer than 42
semester credit hours for an associate degree program if the board
determines that the approval would facilitate the award of a degree
or transfer of credit consistent with this subchapter.
(f) If a student successfully completes a course at an
institution of higher education for which a common number
designation and course description are included in the single
common course numbering system described by Section 61.832, that
course may be transferred to any other institution of higher
education that offers a course with the same common course number
and must be substituted for the receiving institution's course.
SECTION 2. Section 61.826(a), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) The board by rule shall adopt procedures to be followed
by:
(1) institutions of higher education in resolving
disputes concerning the transfer of [lower division] course credit;
and
(2) the commissioner of higher education or the
commissioner's designee in making a final determination concerning
transfer of the course credit if the transfer is in dispute.
SECTION 3. Section 61.830, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 61.830. PUBLICATION OF GUIDELINES ADDRESSING TRANSFER
PRACTICES. In its course catalogs and on its website, each
institution of higher education shall publish guidelines
addressing the practices of the institution regarding the transfer
of course credit. In the guidelines, the institution must use
[identify a course by using] the single common course numbering
system as required by Section 61.832 to identify each of its offered
courses for which a common number designation and course
description are included by the board in that system [approved by
the board].
SECTION 4. Section 61.832, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 61.832. COMMON COURSE NUMBERING SYSTEM. (a) The board
shall approve a single common course numbering system for
[lower-division] courses to facilitate the transfer of [those]
courses among institutions of higher education by promoting
consistency in course designation and identification.
(a-1) The following types of courses are exempt from the
single common course numbering system approved under Subsection
(a):
(1) courses in career and technical education, except
as provided by Section 61.8235;
(2) courses in applied performing arts;
(3) clinical coursework in health-related subject
areas;
(4) skill-related courses in criminal justice-related
subject areas;
(5) graduate courses; and
(6) special topics courses, including course credit
received for completing an internship, an apprenticeship, a
practicum, a thesis, a dissertation, or a course offered by a study
abroad program.
(b) The board shall solicit input from institutions of
higher education regarding the development of the single common
course numbering system.
(c) Each institution of higher education shall:
(1) use the approved common course numbering system in
the institution's guidelines regarding the transfer of course
credit for each course for which a common number designation and
course description are included by the board in that system; and
(2) include the applicable course numbers from the
approved common course numbering system in its course catalogs and
other course listings.
(d) The board may approve only a common course numbering
system already in common use in this state by one or more
institutions of higher education.
(e) [(c)] The board shall cooperate with institutions of
higher education in any additional development or alteration of the
common course numbering system approved under Subsection (a),
including the taxonomy to be used, and in the development of rules
for the administration and applicability of the system.
(f) Each institution of higher education must certify
annually to the board the accuracy of the institution's
identification, in its course catalogs and other course listings,
of each course offered by the institution for which a common number
designation and course description are included by the board in the
common course numbering system. As part of the certification
required by this subsection, the institution shall specify each of
its offered courses for which a common number designation and
course description are included in that system and each of its
offered courses for which a common number designation and course
description are not included in that system. The institution also
shall include with its certification a current, publicly accessible
Internet website address at which the institution publishes its
guidelines regarding the transfer of course credit.
(g) The board may, based on the board's review of the
information certified under Subsection (f), recommend corrective
action to an institution's governing board if the institution fails
to comply with the requirements of this section. In its next
legislative appropriations request made to the legislature, the
board shall identify each institution that fails to comply with the
board's recommended corrective action.
(h) Not later than June 1, 2026, the board shall:
(1) approve a single common course numbering system as
required by Subsection (a); and
(2) establish a timetable that requires institutions
of higher education to phase in the inclusion of the applicable
course numbers from the approved common course numbering system in
their individual guidelines regarding the transfer of course credit
and in their individual course numbering systems as required by
this section so that each institution fully complies with this
section for each course that is offered during the 2030-2031
academic year or a subsequent academic year and for which a common
number designation and course description are included by the board
in that system.
(h-1) Subsection (h) and this subsection expire January 1,
2032.
[(d) An institution of higher education shall include in its
course listings the applicable course numbers from the common
course numbering system approved by the board under this section.
For good cause, the board may grant to an institution of higher
education an exemption from the requirements of this subsection.]
SECTION 5. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
section, the change in law made by this Act applies beginning with
the 2026-2027 academic year.
(b) The change in law made by this Act in adding Sections
61.832(f) and (g), Education Code, applies beginning with the
2030-2031 academic year.
SECTION 6. 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.