H.B. No. 4471

	AN ACT
	relating to the professional nursing shortage reduction program.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Section 61.9621, Education Code, is amended to
	read as follows:
	Sec. 61.9621.  DEFINITION [DEFINITIONS].  In this
	subchapter, "professional nursing program" means an educational
	program offered by a public or private institution of higher
	education for preparing students for initial licensure as
	registered nurses.
	SECTION 2.  Section 61.9623(a), Education Code, is amended
	to read as follows:
	(a)  A grant from the professional nursing shortage
	reduction program to a professional nursing program or other entity
	involved with a professional nursing program in the preparation of
	students for initial licensure as registered nurses must be:
	(1)  expended exclusively on costs related to:
	(A)  enrolling additional students;
	(B)  nursing faculty enhancement in accordance
	with Section 61.96231;
	(C)  encouraging innovation in the recruitment
	and retention of students, including the recruitment and retention
	of Spanish-speaking and bilingual students; or
	(D)  identifying, developing, or implementing
	innovative methods to make the most effective use of limited
	professional nursing program faculty, instructional or clinical
	space, and other resources, including:
	(i)  sharing curriculum and administrative
	or instructional personnel, facilities, and responsibilities
	between two or more professional nursing programs located in the
	same region of this state; and
	(ii)  using preceptors or part-time faculty
	to provide clinical instruction in order to address the need for
	qualified faculty to accommodate increased student enrollment in
	the professional nursing program;
	(2)  contingent on the professional nursing program's
	having been approved as a professional nursing program by the board
	or the Texas Board of Nursing, as appropriate[, by September 1,
	2001];
	(3)  contingent on the professional nursing program's
	not being on probation with the Texas Board of Nursing or other
	accrediting body; and
	(4)  if granted to increase enrollments, contingent on
	the professional nursing program's ability to enroll additional
	students, including having the necessary classroom space and
	clinical slots.
	SECTION 3.  Subchapter Z, Chapter 61, Education Code, is
	amended by adding Sections 61.96232, 61.96233, and 61.9629 to read
	as follows:
	Sec. 61.96232.  GRANTS TO INCREASE NUMBER OF GRADUATES:
	APPLICATION PROCESS. (a) The board by rule shall establish a
	process under which a public or private institution of higher
	education that offers a professional nursing program may apply for
	a grant under this subchapter and the commissioner of higher
	education, contingent on appropriations of money for the grants,
	selects one or more applicants to receive a grant based on criteria
	established by board rule. The criteria must include the
	institution's agreement that the institution's professional
	nursing program will enroll additional students or graduate
	additional students prepared for initial licensure as registered
	nurses.
	(b)  The process established under Subsection (a) may
	authorize the commissioner of higher education to accept a joint
	application from multiple institutions that agree to cooperate on a
	regional or joint basis for their professional nursing programs to
	enroll additional students or graduate additional students
	prepared for initial licensure as registered nurses.
	(c)  The application for a grant under this section must
	require the institution applying for a grant to:
	(1)  state the number of additional students that the
	institution's professional nursing program intends to enroll or
	graduate;
	(2)  identify benchmarks for determining adequate
	progress toward enrolling or graduating those additional students;
	(3)  state the amount of grant money requested; and
	(4)  describe a proposed payment schedule for
	distribution of the grant money to the institution seeking the
	grant.
	(d)  The commissioner of higher education may negotiate
	changes to the application before approving the application.
	(e)  If a professional nursing program fails to enroll or
	graduate the number of additional students stated in the approved
	application or does not meet a benchmark identified in the approved
	application, the commissioner of higher education may:
	(1)  require the institution offering the professional
	nursing program to return any unearned grant money awarded to the
	program under this subchapter;
	(2)  withhold future grant awards that would otherwise
	be made under this subchapter in accordance with the approved
	application;
	(3)  renegotiate the terms of the approved application;
	or
	(4)  rescind approval of the application.
	(f)  The board may appoint an advisory committee to advise
	the commissioner of higher education and the board on
	implementation of this section. The board may assign to the
	committee the responsibility for evaluating applications and
	recommending to the commissioner applications for approval.
	Sec. 61.96233.  NEW PROFESSIONAL NURSING PROGRAMS. (a)  The
	board shall adopt rules for permitting newly established
	professional nursing programs to participate in and receive grant
	awards under the program established under this subchapter.
	(b)  The rules the board adopts under Subsection (a) must
	include:
	(1)  a process for ensuring that newly established
	professional nursing programs are treated equitably with
	established programs in the award of grants under this subchapter;
	and
	(2)  a method for calculating increases in enrollment
	or graduates if grants are awarded based on such increases.
	Sec. 61.9629.  CONTINUED ELIGIBILITY OF PROGRAMS TO RECEIVE
	GRANTS. Notwithstanding Section 61.9621, a professional nursing
	program offered by an entity other than a public or private or
	independent institution of higher education that was eligible to
	receive grants from a program under this subchapter before
	September 1, 2009, remains eligible to receive a grant from such a
	program if the entity meets all criteria for a grant other than the
	criterion of being a program offered by an institution of higher
	education.
	SECTION 4.  The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
	may adopt initial rules for the administration of Sections 61.96232
	and 61.96233, Education Code, as added by this Act, at the
	coordinating board's first meeting after the effective date of this
	Act. For that purpose, the coordinating board may adopt the rules
	in the manner provided by law for emergency rules.
	SECTION 5.  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, 2009.
	______________________________	______________________________
	President of the Senate	Speaker of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 4471 was passed by the House on April
	23, 2009, by the following vote:  Yeas 145, Nays 0, 1 present, not
	voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
	No. 4471 on May 29, 2009, by the following vote:  Yeas 145, Nays 0,
	1 present, not voting.
	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 4471 was passed by the Senate, with
	amendments, on May 27, 2009, by the following vote:  Yeas 31, Nays
	0.
	______________________________
	Secretary of the Senate
	APPROVED: __________________
	Date
	__________________
	Governor