HBA-MPA H.B. 3142 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3142 By: Naishtat Economic Development 4/4/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, some courses offered by businesses that prepare students for college entrance exams are exempt from regulation while other courses similar in nature are not. Courses for the Law School Admission Text(LSAT), the State Bar, and the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) are exempt, while courses that prepare examinees for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) are not exempt. H.B. 3142 ensures consistency in the exemption for preparatory courses for college entrance exams and exempts from regulation companies that manufacture or produce a product and then train consumers about how to use their product. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 132.002(a), Education Code, to exclude from the definition of "proprietary schools," a school that offers intensive review of a student's previously acquired education, training, or experience to prepare the student for an examination that the student by law may not take unless the student has completed or substantially completed, or is required to take as a precondition of enrollment or a condition of admission in a particular certificate or degree program, rather than courses designed to prepare students for certain specified professional courses. Provides that a course of instruction in the use of a product offered to a purchaser or the purchaser's employee by a person who manufactures or sells the product and is not primarily in the business of providing courses of instruction in product use is not within the definition of "proprietary schools." SECTION 2. Makes application of this Act prospective. SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 4. Emergency clause.