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Senate Bill 956 |
Senate Author: West et al. |
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Effective: See below |
House Sponsor: Branch et al. |
Senate Bill 956 amends the Education Code to authorize the University of North Texas System board of regents to establish and operate a law school in the city of Dallas, to prescribe courses leading to customary degrees as are offered at other leading American law schools, and to award such degrees. The bill requires the board to administer the law school as a professional school of the system until the University of North Texas at Dallas has been administered as a general academic teaching institution for five years, at which time the law school is to become a professional school of the University of North Texas at Dallas. Until the law school becomes a professional school of the university, it is to be considered an institution of higher education and is entitled to formula funding as if the law school were a professional school of a general academic teaching institution. The bill also entitles the law school to participate in the higher education fund provided by the Texas Constitution for institutions of higher education. The bill establishes that venue for a suit filed solely against the law school or against officers or employees of the law school is in Dallas County and that in case of a conflict between this provision and any other law, this provision controls.
The bill requires the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, before the University of North Texas System board of regents establishes the law school but not later than June 1, 2010, to prepare a feasibility study to determine the actions the system must take to obtain accreditation of the law school; the bill also requires the coordinating board to study the need for and feasibility of establishing a public law school in areas of the state where a law school is not located, including the Texas-Mexico border region, and to deliver a copy of the study's results to the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the house of representatives, and presiding officers of the legislative committees with jurisdiction over higher education not later than November 1, 2010.
The bill takes effect June 19, 2009, but only if a specific appropriation for the implementation of the bill is provided in a general appropriations act of the 81st Legislature.