By: Gutierrez H.B. No. 1102
73R4920 SOS-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the conversion of the McAllen extension center of Texas
1-3 State Technical College System to a joint-county junior college.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 130, Education Code, is
1-6 amended by adding Section 130.0311 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 130.0311. CERTAIN JOINT-COUNTY JUNIOR COLLEGES. (a)
1-8 For the statewide purposes of educating the residents of this state
1-9 and promoting better relations with the United Mexican States, a
1-10 joint-county junior college is created in each location that
1-11 contains two contiguous counties that have a combined population of
1-12 424,000 or more and that have five or fewer international border
1-13 crossings.
1-14 (b) The territory of a junior college created under this
1-15 section consists of the area within the boundaries of the two
1-16 counties.
1-17 (c) A junior college created under this section shall offer
1-18 vocational, technical, and academic courses for certification or
1-19 associate degrees.
1-20 (d) A junior college created under this section is governed
1-21 by an initial board of trustees composed of seven members who are
1-22 appointed by the governor to serve until the earlier of January 1,
1-23 2000, or the date that an election is held under Subsection (f) of
1-24 this section.
2-1 (e) A vacancy on the initial board of trustees shall be
2-2 filled in the same manner as the original appointment for the
2-3 unexpired term.
2-4 (f) Notwithstanding Section 130.036 of this code, the
2-5 qualified electors of the counties within the territory of the
2-6 junior college by petition may establish the junior college as a
2-7 joint-county junior college under Section 130.033 of this code.
2-8 The college shall be governed by a board of trustees as provided by
2-9 Section 130.040 of this code.
2-10 (g) If South Texas Community College is not established as a
2-11 joint-county junior college under Subsection (f) of this section
2-12 before January 1, 2000, the junior college is abolished and this
2-13 section expires on that date.
2-14 SECTION 2. (a) Not later than the 30th day after the date
2-15 that a quorum of the initial board of trustees of a junior college
2-16 created under Section 130.0311, Education Code, as added by this
2-17 Act, have qualified for office, the governing board of Texas State
2-18 Technical College System shall determine which junior college
2-19 created under that section has the greatest educational need and
2-20 shall transfer the records, contracts and other obligations, real
2-21 and personal property, and employees of the McAllen extension
2-22 center to the initial board of trustees of that junior college.
2-23 (b) In contracts or other obligations transferred under this
2-24 section, the board of trustees of the junior college selected by
2-25 the governing board of Texas State Technical College System is
2-26 substituted for and acts in the place of the governing board of
2-27 Texas State Technical College System.
3-1 (c) Except as otherwise provided by law, each employee who
3-2 is transferred under this section is entitled to the same salary
3-3 that the employee was receiving before the transfer and is entitled
3-4 to participate in insurance coverage and other benefits in the same
3-5 manner as other employees of the junior college selected under this
3-6 section.
3-7 (d) On the date that a quorum of the initial board of
3-8 trustees of the junior college selected under this section have
3-9 qualified for office, the unexpended and unobligated balance of the
3-10 appropriation for the fiscal biennium beginning September 1, 1993,
3-11 to Texas State Technical College System--Harlingen for the McAllen
3-12 extension center and the McAllen physical plant is transferred and
3-13 reappropriated to the junior college selected under this section to
3-14 operate the college.
3-15 (e) The initial board of trustees of the junior college
3-16 selected under this section shall direct the secretary of state to
3-17 publish in the Texas Register notice of:
3-18 (1) the creation of the college;
3-19 (2) the date that a quorum of the initial board have
3-20 qualified for office; and
3-21 (3) the abolition of the McAllen extension center of
3-22 Texas State Technical College System.
3-23 SECTION 3. Subchapter A, Chapter 130, Education Code, is
3-24 amended by adding Section 130.0032 to read as follows:
3-25 Sec. 130.0032. STATE APPROPRIATION FOR SOUTH TEXAS COMMUNITY
3-26 COLLEGE. (a) Notwithstanding Section 130.003(b) of this code, a
3-27 junior college created under Section 130.0311 of this code is not
4-1 required to levy and collect ad valorem taxes as provided by law
4-2 for the operation and maintenance of a public junior college to be
4-3 eligible for and to receive a proportionate share of the
4-4 appropriation under Section 130.003 of this code.
4-5 (b) This section expires January 1, 2000.
4-6 SECTION 4. Section 135.02(a), Education Code, is amended to
4-7 read as follows:
4-8 (a) The Texas State Technical College System is composed of:
4-9 (1) a system office located in the city of Waco in
4-10 McLennan County;
4-11 (2) a campus located in the city of Amarillo in Potter
4-12 County;
4-13 (3) a campus located in the city of Harlingen in
4-14 Cameron County;
4-15 (4) a campus located in the city of Sweetwater in
4-16 Nolan County;
4-17 (5) an extension center located in the city of
4-18 Marshall in Harrison County; <and>
4-19 (6) <(5)> a campus located in the city of Waco in
4-20 McLennan County;
4-21 (7) <(6)> an extension center <centers> in the <city
4-22 of McAllen in Hidalgo County and the> city of Abilene in Taylor
4-23 County and an extension program offered through a rural technology
4-24 center in the city of Breckenridge in Stephens County; and
4-25 (8) <(7)> other campuses assigned to the system from
4-26 time to time by specific legislative Act.
4-27 SECTION 5. (a) Except as otherwise provided by this
5-1 section, this Act takes effect immediately.
5-2 (b) Sections 2, 3, and 4 of this Act take effect on the date
5-3 that a quorum of the initial board of trustees of the junior
5-4 college selected by the governing board of Texas State Technical
5-5 College System have qualified for office. If a quorum of the
5-6 initial board of trustees of that junior college have not qualified
5-7 for office before January 1, 2000, Sections 2, 3, and 4 of this Act
5-8 have no effect.
5-9 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
5-10 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-11 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-12 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-13 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
5-14 and that this Act take effect and be in force according to its
5-15 terms, and it is so enacted.