By: Bettencourt S.B. No. 2048
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the student loan program administered by the Texas
  Higher Education Coordinating Board and to the repeal of a related
  bond program.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Sections 52.11(c), (d), (h), (k), and (n),
  Education Code, are amended to read as follows:
         (c)  The proceeds from the sale of bonds shall be placed in
  the student loan auxiliary fund [Texas Opportunity Plan Fund].
         (d)  To assure the orderly and economical marketing of the
  bonds and the reasonable availability of money in the student loan
  auxiliary fund [Texas Opportunity Plan Fund], the bonds may be
  issued in installments.
         (h)  The bonds shall be executed on behalf of the
  coordinating board, or its successor, as general obligations of the
  State of Texas [in the following manner: They shall be signed by
  the chairman or vice chairman and the secretary of the board, and
  the seal of the board shall be impressed on them. They shall be
  signed by the governor and attested by the secretary of state and
  the state seal impressed on them. The resolution authorizing the
  issuance of any installment or series of bonds may prescribe the
  extent to which facsimile signatures and facsimile seals may be
  used in executing the bonds and appurtenant coupons. Interest
  coupons may be signed with the facsimile signatures of the chairman
  or vice chairman and the secretary of the board. In the event any
  officer whose manual or facsimile signature appears on any bond or
  coupon ceases to hold that office before the delivery of the bond or
  coupon, the signature will nevertheless be valid and sufficient for
  all purposes as if he had remained in office until the delivery had
  been made].
         (k)  The performance of official duties prescribed by
  Sections 50b-4, 50b-5, 50b-6, and 50b-7, Article III, [Section 50b,
  of the] Texas Constitution, in reference to the provision for the
  payment and the payment of the bonds may be enforced in any court of
  competent jurisdiction through mandamus or other appropriate
  proceedings.
         (n)  This section applies only to bonds issued under Sections
  50b-4, 50b-5, 50b-6, and 50b-7, Article III, [Section 50b, of the]
  Texas Constitution.
         SECTION 2.  Section 52.16, Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 52.16.  PROCEEDS FROM BOND SALE. All proceeds from the
  sale of bonds authorized by Sections 50b-4, 50b-5, 50b-6, and
  50b-7, Article III, [Section 50b, 50b-1, or 50b-2 of the] Texas
  Constitution, shall be deposited in the state treasury in the
  student loan auxiliary fund [Texas Opportunity Plan Fund].
         SECTION 3.  Section 52.32(a), Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (a)  The board may authorize loans from the Texas Opportunity
  Plan Fund or the student loan auxiliary fund to a qualified
  applicant who:
               (1)  is a resident of this state as defined by the board
  in accordance with Subchapter B, Chapter 54;
               (2)  has been accepted for enrollment at a
  participating higher educational institution[, provided that if
  the institution is a public or private postsecondary educational
  institution, the institution must be approved by an agency of the
  United States government for the purpose of guaranteeing the maker
  of such loans against loss due to the death, disability, or default
  of the borrower];
               (3)  has established that the student has insufficient
  resources to finance the student's college education or alternative
  educator certification program;
               (4)  has submitted to the board at least two
  references, including the names of the persons giving those
  references and appropriate contact information for those persons;
  and
               (5)  has complied with other requirements established
  by the rules adopted by the board in conformity with this chapter.
         SECTION 4.  Section 52.33, Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 52.33.  AMOUNT OF LOAN. The amount of the loan to any
  qualified applicant shall be limited to the difference between the
  financial resources available to the applicant, including [but not
  limited to] the applicant's [income from parents and other
  sources,] scholarships, gifts, grants, and other financial aid,
  [and the amount the applicant can reasonably be expected to earn,]
  and the amount necessary to pay the applicant's reasonable expenses
  as a student at the participating institution of higher education
  where the applicant has been accepted for enrollment, under the
  rules and regulations adopted by the board.  The total loan to any
  individual student may never be more than the amount the student can
  reasonably be expected to repay in the maximum loan period provided
  by board rule, except as otherwise provided for in this chapter.
         SECTION 5.  Sections 52.34(a) and (f), Education Code, are
  amended to read as follows:
         (a)  No payment may be made to any student until the student
  has executed a note payable to the Texas Opportunity Plan Fund or
  the student loan auxiliary fund for the full amount of the
  authorized loan plus interest.
         (f)  The board shall distribute money to a participating
  institution through the current statewide accounting system
  [electronic funds transfer system maintained by the Texas
  Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation for disbursing loan funds from
  commercial lenders participating in the guaranteed student loan
  program under Chapter 57, except that at the request of a
  participating institution the board may distribute the money
  through other means. The board shall enter into a contract with the
  corporation for the use of the system, and the corporation shall
  make the system available to the board as necessary to carry out
  this subsection].
         SECTION 6.  Section 52.38, Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 52.38.  REPAYMENT OF LOANS. Repayment of any loan and
  interest authorized under this chapter shall be made monthly and
  shall begin not later than nine months after the date the student
  borrower is last enrolled in a participating institution or any
  other institution of higher education [and in no event later than
  five years from the date the first note evidencing a loan under this
  chapter is executed]. The board may, however, authorize a longer
  period before beginning repayment of loans to medical students,
  dental students, and other students seeking professional or
  graduate degrees. The board may extend the time for beginning
  repayment for unusual financial hardships, with the approval of the
  attorney general. Repayment shall be made directly to the board [or
  to a participating institution] pursuant to a contract executed by
  the board in accordance with its rules and regulations.
         SECTION 7.  The heading to Section 52.41, Education Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
         Sec. 52.41.  SERVICING [RESTRICTION ON ISSUANCE] OF CERTAIN
  FEDERALLY INSURED STUDENT LOANS.
         SECTION 8.  Section 52.41(b), Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (b)  The board may service any outstanding student loans
  issued by the board under the Federal Family Education Loan Program
  authorized under Part B, Title IV, of the Higher Education Act of
  1965 (20 U.S.C. Section 1071 et seq.).
         SECTION 9.  Section 52.53, Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 52.53.  GIFTS AND GRANTS. The board may accept gifts,
  grants, or donations of real or personal property from any
  individual, group, association, or corporation or the United
  States, subject to limitations or conditions set by law. The board
  shall deposit gifts, grants, or donations of money [in the Texas
  Opportunity Plan Fund or] in the student loan auxiliary fund and
  shall separately account for and expend the funds in accordance
  with the specific purpose for which given and under such conditions
  as are imposed by the donor and as provided by law.
         SECTION 10.  Section 52.541(a), Education Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         (a)  The board shall establish separate accounting within
  the Texas Opportunity Plan Fund and the student loan auxiliary fund
  for each of its existing loan programs[, including accounting for
  the federally insured loans that are insured by the United States
  Department of Education, the federally insured loans that are
  insured by the United States Department of Health and Human
  Services, and each loan program that consists of loans insured by
  the State of Texas].
         SECTION 11.  The following provisions of the Education Code
  are repealed:
               (1)  Sections 52.32(a-1) and (b);
               (2)  Section 52.40;
               (3)  Sections 52.41(a) and (c); and
               (4)  Subchapter E, Chapter 52.
         SECTION 12.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.