TITLE: Relating to the eligibility of children and other dependents of certain military personnel or veterans for tuition and fee exemptions at public institutions of higher education.

SUMMARY: Relating to the eligibility of children and other dependents of certain military personnel or veterans for tuition and fee exemptions at public institutions of higher education.

FULL TEXT:
AN ACT relating to the eligibility of children and other dependents of certain military personnel or veterans for tuition and fee exemptions at public institutions of higher education. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Sections 54.341(k) and (m), Education Code, are amended to read as follows: (k) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board by rule shall prescribe procedures to allow: (1) a person who becomes eligible for an exemption provided by Subsection (a) to waive the person's right to any unused portion of the maximum number of cumulative credit hours for which the person could receive the exemption and assign the exemption for the unused portion of those credit hours to a child of the person; and (2) following the death of a person who becomes eligible for an exemption provided by Subsection (a), the assignment of the exemption for the unused portion of the credit hours to a child of the person, to be made by the person's spouse,by the personal representative, as defined by Section 3, Texas Probate Code, of the person, or by the conservator, guardian, custodian, or other legally designated caretaker of the child, if the child does not otherwise qualify for an exemption under Subsection (b). (m) For purposes of this section, a person is the child of another person if [the person is 25 years of age or younger on the first day of the semester or other academic term for which the exemption is claimed and]:(1) the person is the stepchild or the biological or adopted child of the other person; or (2) the other person claimed the person as a dependent on a federal income tax return filed for the preceding year or will claim the person as a dependent on a federal income tax return for the current year. SECTION 2. Section 54.341(n), Education Code, is repealed. SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies beginning with tuition and fees for the 2013 fall semester. Tuition and fees for a term or semester before the 2013 fall semester are covered by the law in effect immediately before the effective date of this Act, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. SECTION 4. 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.