(a) To respond to the rapidly evolving economic needs of the state and any regional labor shortages in critical occupations, this section provides an alternative pathway for the Coordinating Board to include fields linked to occupations not otherwise generated by the methodology described in §13.594 of this subchapter (relating to High-Demand Fields Methodology) to the list of High-Demand Fields for which a college receives additional funding under §13.558 of this chapter (relating to Performance Tier: High-Demand Fields).
(b) Petition Process for Essential Occupations. For including Essential Occupations on a region's high-demand occupations list under §13.594(4), the Coordinating Board shall utilize the following process:
  (1) A public junior college or consortium of public junior colleges assigned to the same region under §13.592 of this subchapter (relating to Regions) may petition the Coordinating Board to add no more than five Essential Occupations using a form approved by the Commissioner of Higher Education.
  (2) Whether individually or as a member of a consortium, a public junior college may submit only one petition to the Coordinating Board during each time period when petitions are accepted pursuant to paragraph (b)(5) of this section.
  (3) A petition under this section may request that specific occupations identified by six-digit SOC codes be added to the list of high-demand occupations on the regional high-demand fields list for the requestor(s) pursuant to §13.594(4).
  (4) A petition under this section shall name the Workforce Development Area (WDA) in the institution's service area whose board has designated as a Targeted Occupation pursuant to Texas Government Code, chapter 2308, each occupation that the petition seeks to add to a regional high-demand occupations list. The petition shall also include, for the occupation(s) and region in question:
    (A) evidence of current job vacancies or growth, whether recent or projected, in the number of job openings;
    (B) evidence of prevailing compensation or growth, whether recent or projected, in prevailing compensation;
    (C) evidence of the importance of the occupation(s) to the regional economy; and
    (D) evidence that the occupation typically requires for entry completion of an academic or workforce credential that the requestor(s) currently offers or will begin offering by the start of the fiscal year for which the occupation would take effect as a high-demand occupation if approved.
  (5) Beginning in fiscal year 2025, in each odd-numbered year the Coordinating Board shall accept petitions under this section for a time period beginning on the earlier of May 1 or the day after the TWC publishes a new list of Target Occupations and ending May 31.
(c) Review Process and Criteria for Essential Occupations. The Coordinating Board shall utilize the following method for reviewing all petitions properly submitted pursuant to subsection (b) of this section:
  (1) In consultation with the Texas Workforce Commission, the Coordinating Board shall discard as ineligible any occupation(s) not included on the Targeted Occupations list of a Workforce Development Area within the region to which the petitioner(s) is assigned under §13.592, as well as any occupations already included among the region's high-demand occupations.
  (2) If, considering all eligible occupations on all petitions for a region, all public junior colleges in the region request five or fewer unduplicated eligible Essential Occupations for addition to the region's high-demand occupations, the Assistant Commissioner shall recommend that the Commissioner of Higher Education approve the occupations for inclusion on the region's high-demand occupations list.
  (3) If multiple public junior colleges in a region request more than five unduplicated eligible Essential Occupations in total for addition to a region's high-demand occupations, the Coordinating Board shall score each occupation according to a rubric developed in consultation with the Texas Workforce Commission and approved by the Commissioner of Higher Education. The rubric shall specify scoring standards that may include the following:
    (A) Workforce demand;
    (B) Prevailing compensation;
    (C) Regional economic importance;
    (D) Typical education and training requirements;
    (E) Demand among institutions, such as the percentage of the public junior colleges assigned to the region that petitioned for its inclusion as an Essential Occupation, and
    (F) Other criteria or evidence relevant to the determination of need for the occupation in the scoring rubric approved by the Commissioner of Higher Education.
  (4) Not later than July 15 of each odd-numbered year, the Assistant Commissioner shall review and approve the scores assigned to each occupation and recommend the five (5) highest scoring occupations for each region to the Commissioner of Higher Education for approval. The Commissioner of Higher Education shall review the occupations recommended by the Assistant Commissioner for each region for addition as an Essential Occupation to the region's list of high-demand occupations. The Commissioner of Higher Education in his or her sole discretion based on the petitions and demonstration of need may approve or deny approval of any occupation recommended by the Assistant Commissioner.
  (5) An Essential Occupation shall remain on a region's list of high-demand occupations under §13.594 (relating to High-Demand Fields Methodology) as an Emerging Occupation for not fewer than two (2) fiscal years.

Source Note: The provisions of this §13.595 adopted to be effective May 16, 2024, 49 TexReg 3270