HBA-MPM H.B. 2867 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2867 By: Dunnam Higher Education 7/19/1999 Enrolled BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Some of Texas' brightest high school students are choosing to attend out-of-state colleges and universities. A reason for this exodus may be Texas' inability to compete with the kinds of substantive scholarships, grants, and fellowships offered by institutions of higher education in other states. H.B. 2867 authorizes public institutions of higher education in this state to offer matching nonathletic scholarships to Texas students who have received offers from out-of-state institutions. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking authority is expressly delegated to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in SECTION 1 (Section 61.086, Education Code). SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter C, Chapter 61, Education Code, by adding Section 61.086, as follows: Sec. 61.086. MATCHING SCHOLARSHIPS TO RETAIN STUDENTS IN TEXAS. (a) Requires the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (board) to adopt rules allowing a public or private or independent institution of higher education to use any funds appropriated to the institution or that it may use for the award of scholarships or grants to match, in whole or part, any nonathletic scholarship or grant offer, including an offer of the payment of tuition, fees, room and board, or a stipend, received by a graduate of a Texas public or private high school from an out-of-state institution of higher education. Requires the rules to provide for verifying that an out-of-state institution has made a nonathletic scholarship or grant offer to a student and the amount of the offer. Authorizes the board to adopt any other rule necessary to implement this section. (b) Prohibits the board from requiring an institution to match a scholarship or grant offer. (c) Requires each public or private or independent institution of higher education to report to the board all scholarships or grants offered by out-of-state institutions for which the reporting institution offered a matching scholarship or grant under this section and all scholarships or grants offered or awarded by the reporting institution under this section and the methods used to encourage Texas high school graduates to attend that institution. Requires the report to include the race or ethnicity and gender of each person offered or awarded a scholarship or grant, the high school from which the person graduated, the outof-state institution that offered the scholarship or grant, and the value and type of each scholarship or grant. SECTION 2. Requires the board to adopt rules relating to matching scholarships as provided by Section 61.086, Education Code, as added by this Act, no later than September 1, 1999. Requires the board to report, including certain information, on the initial implementation of this Act no later than December 31, 2000. Requires the board to deliver the report to the presiding officer of the standing committee on higher education in each house of the legislature. SECTION 3.Emergency clause. Effective date: upon passage.