2025 · Regular session · House bill
HB2853
HB2853 removes the fixed dollar caps on the University of Texas at El Paso student-union fee.
Official caption: Relating to student union building fees at The University of Texas at El Paso.
Official report lists House author(s): Perez, Vincent, Moody, Morales, Eddie, Ordaz. This does not identify sponsors or amendment drafters.
Bill explanation published · Version and amendment review scope is stated below · Individual amendment records may not be separately annotated.
Bill highlights
Selected points from the published explanation. Follow each point to its source-linked context; conditions and limits may matter.
- HB2853 removes the fixed dollar caps on the University of Texas at El Paso student-union fee.
- An increase of 10 percent or more over the fee charged during the preceding academic year requires approval by a majority of enrolled students who participate in a student election held for that purpose.
- Previously, the statute capped the fee at $30 for a regular semester or summer session of at least six weeks and $15 for a shorter summer session.
- The act took effect September 1, 2025, and applies beginning with fees collected for spring 2026.
What does it do?
HB2853 removes the fixed dollar caps on the University of Texas at El Paso student-union fee. It allows the UT System regents to use the fee for financing, construction, operation, maintenance and improvement of the student union, expressly including demolition of the existing building. It does not itself set a new fee or require an increase. Final law, Sections 1–3.
An increase of 10 percent or more over the fee charged during the preceding academic year requires approval by a majority of enrolled students who participate in a student election held for that purpose. This means a majority of participating voters, not a majority of all enrolled students. The section does not require that vote for an increase below 10 percent, and 10 percent is a voting threshold—not an absolute cap on a student-approved increase.
Previously, the statute capped the fee at $30 for a regular semester or summer session of at least six weeks and $15 for a shorter summer session. It required a student vote to go above $15 or $7.50 respectively. HB2853 replaces those dollar limits with the percentage-based voting rule. The fee remains separate from other authorized fees. The unchanged subsection (b) retains the student-union fee account, advisory-committee budget and reporting process, and regents’ budget approval. Referenced code section.
The act took effect September 1, 2025, and applies beginning with fees collected for spring 2026. It became law without the governor’s signature on June 22, 2025. Official history.
What changed along the way?
The filed bill, House committee version and House-passed version were substantively identical. They proposed eventual caps of $150 for terms of at least ten weeks and $75 for shorter terms, with interim caps of $70/$35 before fall 2026 and $120/$60 during the 2026–27 academic year. They also included the new 10-percent voting threshold and demolition authority.
The Senate substitute removed both the proposed dollar caps and the phase-in schedule, while retaining the voting rule, demolition authority and spring 2026 application date. The House concurred May 29. The amendment index lists no separate floor amendments, but the Senate amendment packet contains the adopted substitute. Thus “no indexed amendments” does not mean the bill passed unchanged. The proposed $150/$75 and interim amounts are not enacted statutory caps.
For the full amendment record, open the official amendment index.
Official bill versions
Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.
Who could benefit—and who could bear the costs?
UTEP could gain greater flexibility to fund student-union facilities, including replacing an existing building. Students could benefit from improved facilities but bear higher charges if fees are raised. Student voting provides a check on increases reaching the statutory threshold; it does not guarantee a particular outcome or fee.
The latest fiscal note anticipates no state fiscal effect and no significant local-government fiscal effect because fee receipts are institutional funds. It reports UT System projections of $0.9 million in additional revenue in fiscal 2026, $4.1 million in 2027 and $5.5 million annually from 2028. However, that note still describes the earlier $150/$75 capped, phased-in proposal, not the uncapped final text. Those projections are therefore not a reliable statement of the final law’s fee schedule or a guaranteed revenue result. “No state fiscal effect” also does not mean no cost to students. This review does not establish what fee the regents actually adopted or whether a student election subsequently approved it.
Official sources
- Bill history and latest recorded action
- Bill versions, analyses and fiscal notes
- Action history and votes
- Amendment index
Catalog report retrieved 2026-10-25. Check the official record for corrections or later changes.
