BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2645

By: King, Tracy O.

Higher Education

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Concerns have been raised regarding the election procedures for certain junior college district trustees. It has been noted that the Laredo Community College District experiences runoff elections almost every election cycle, resulting in a significant financial burden. There have been calls to implement a plurality voting system for these elections with the aim of reducing subsequent elections at taxpayer expense. C.S.H.B. 2645 seeks to address this issue by providing for the implementation of a plurality voting system for the election of trustees of certain junior college districts.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2645 amends the Education Code to authorize the board of trustees of the Laredo Community College District and the Southwest Texas Junior College District by resolution to provide, not later than the 180th day before the date of a board election, that a candidate receiving the highest number of votes cast for each respective position is elected. The resolution is effective for subsequent elections until rescinded by a subsequent resolution adopted not later than the 180th day before the date of the first election to which the rescission applies.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2021.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 2645 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

Whereas the original applied to the board of trustees of a junior college district located in a county located on the Texas-Mexico border that has a population of less than 300,000 and contains one or more municipalities with a population of 200,000 or more, the substitute instead identifies the applicable junior college districts by name.