---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to the automatic admission to general academic teaching institutions and eligibility for certain scholarships of a student who is the valedictorian of the student's high school graduating class."
description: "Relating to the automatic admission to general academic teaching institutions and eligibility for certain scholarships of a student who is the valedictorian of the student's high school graduating class."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tx"
legislature: "Texas Legislature"
session: "86"
identifier: "HB 539"
citation: "Texas HB 539 (86)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Education--Higher--Admission & Attendance (I0257)", "Education--Higher--Institutions & Programs (I0223)", "SCHOLARSHIPS (S2123)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ashby", "Kolkhorst", "Leman", "Nevárez", "Springer", "Stucky"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 50
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2018-12-17"
last_action: "2019-06-10"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/715d8e9d-28fc-4fc7-969c-f750632642c1"
source_url: "ftp://ftp.legis.state.tx.us/bills/86R/billhistory/house_bills/HB00500_HB00599/HB 539.xml"
source_hash: "53225eeb7cac92a6160d5699d90b9a69b0f3ee93f73dda6048e443f473a87f28"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-tx"]
---

# Texas HB 539 (86) — Relating to the automatic admission to general academic teaching institutions and eligibility for certain scholarships of a student who is the valedictorian of the student's high school graduating class.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/86R/billtext/html/HB00539I.HTM)

## Votes

- passage — **147–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Ashby — primary (person)
- Kolkhorst — primary (person)
- Leman — primary (person)
- Nevárez — primary (person)
- Springer — primary (person)
- Stucky — primary (person)
- Allison — cosponsor (person)
- Anderson, Charles "Doc" — cosponsor (person)
- Bailes — cosponsor (person)
- Bell, Keith — cosponsor (person)
- Bernal — cosponsor (person)
- Buckley — cosponsor (person)
- Burns — cosponsor (person)
- Button — cosponsor (person)
- Cain — cosponsor (person)
- Clardy — cosponsor (person)
- Cyrier — cosponsor (person)
- Dutton — cosponsor (person)
- Frank — cosponsor (person)
- González, Mary — cosponsor (person)
- Guillen — cosponsor (person)
- Harless — cosponsor (person)
- Harris — cosponsor (person)
- Hefner — cosponsor (person)
- Holland — cosponsor (person)
- Huberty — cosponsor (person)
- King, Ken — cosponsor (person)
- Kuempel — cosponsor (person)
- Lang — cosponsor (person)
- Lozano — cosponsor (person)
- Metcalf — cosponsor (person)
- Meyer — cosponsor (person)
- Minjarez — cosponsor (person)
- Murr — cosponsor (person)
- Patterson — cosponsor (person)
- Raney — cosponsor (person)
- Sanford — cosponsor (person)
- Sheffield — cosponsor (person)
- Smith — cosponsor (person)
- Talarico — cosponsor (person)
- VanDeaver — cosponsor (person)
- White — cosponsor (person)
- Wray — cosponsor (person)
- Zwiener — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2018-12-17** Filed `filing`
- **2019-02-20** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2019-02-20** Referred to Higher Education `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-27** Considered in public hearing
- **2019-02-27** Testimony taken/registration(s) recorded in committee
- **2019-02-27** Left pending in committee
- **2019-03-06** Considered in public hearing
- **2019-03-06** Committee substitute considered in committee
- **2019-03-06** Reported favorably as substituted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-03-11** Comte report filed with Committee Coordinator
- **2019-03-12** Committee report distributed
- **2019-03-12** Committee report sent to Calendars
- **2019-03-13** Considered in Calendars
- **2019-03-27** Considered in Calendars
- **2019-04-02** Placed on General State Calendar
- **2019-04-02** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2019-04-02** Passed to engrossment
- **2019-04-03** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2019-04-03** Passed `passage`
- **2019-04-03** Record vote
- **2019-04-03** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2019-04-03** Reported engrossed
- **2019-04-04** Received from the House `introduction`
- **2019-04-08** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2019-04-08** Referred to Higher Education `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-08** Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
- **2019-05-08** Considered in public hearing
- **2019-05-08** Testimony taken in committee
- **2019-05-08** Left pending in committee
- **2019-05-16** Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
- **2019-05-16** Considered in public hearing
- **2019-05-19** Reported favorably w/o amendments `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-05-19** Recommended for local & uncontested calendar
- **2019-05-19** Committee report printed and distributed
- **2019-05-22** Placed on local & uncontested calendar
- **2019-05-22** Laid before the Senate
- **2019-05-22** Read 2nd time & passed to 3rd reading
- **2019-05-22** Vote recorded in Journal
- **2019-05-22** Three day rule suspended
- **2019-05-22** Record vote
- **2019-05-22** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2019-05-22** Passed `passage`
- **2019-05-22** Record vote
- **2019-05-23** Senate passage reported
- **2019-05-24** Reported enrolled
- **2019-05-26** Signed in the House
- **2019-05-27** Signed in the Senate
- **2019-05-28** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2019-06-10** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2019-06-10** Effective immediately

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/715d8e9d-28fc-4fc7-969c-f750632642c1`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Texas legislature records).