S.B. No. 251
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the conversion of the McAllen extension center of the
1-2 Texas State Technical College System to a joint-county junior
1-3 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. SOUTH TEXAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE. (a) The
1-8 McAllen extension center of the Texas State Technical College
1-9 System is converted to a joint-county junior college located in
1-10 Hidalgo and Starr counties to be known as South Texas Community
1-11 College.
1-12 (b) South Texas Community College's territory consists of
1-13 the area within the boundaries of Hidalgo and Starr counties.
1-14 (c) South Texas Community College is governed by an initial
1-15 board of trustees composed of seven members appointed by the
1-16 governor to serve until the earlier of August 31, 2000, or the date
1-17 that an election is held at which a majority of the votes cast at
1-18 the election favor the confirmation of the college.
1-19 (d) Not later than September 1, 1993, the governor shall
1-20 appoint at least one member of the initial board of trustees from
1-21 Hidalgo County and at least one member from Starr County. A
1-22 trustee shall, during the trustee's term of office, reside in the
1-23 county from which the trustee was appointed.
1-24 (e) A vacancy on the initial board of trustees shall be
2-1 filled in the same manner as the original appointment for the
2-2 unexpired term. To be eligible for appointment, the individual
2-3 must be a resident of the county from which the original
2-4 appointment was made.
2-5 (f) The board of trustees may employ staff to operate South
2-6 Texas Community College.
2-7 (g) Notwithstanding Section 130.003 of this code, South
2-8 Texas Community College is not required to levy and collect ad
2-9 valorem taxes, to comply with other laws, rules, and regulations
2-10 governing the establishment of public junior colleges, or to be
2-11 certified as a public junior college under Section 61.063 of this
2-12 code to be eligible for and to receive a proportionate share of the
2-13 appropriation under Section 130.003 of this code.
2-14 (h) Notwithstanding Sections 130.032-130.039 and
2-15 130.042-130.044 of this code, the board of trustees of South Texas
2-16 Community College shall call and hold an election within Hidalgo
2-17 and Starr counties not later than January 1, 1996, to confirm the
2-18 creation of the college and to authorize the election of the board
2-19 of trustees from single-member districts established by the board
2-20 of trustees, the issuance of bonds, and the imposition of taxes.
2-21 (i) Notice of the election shall state the day and places
2-22 for holding the election and the proposition to be voted on and
2-23 shall list the appointed board of trustees. The board of trustees
2-24 shall publish the notice of the election one time in one or more
2-25 newspapers of general circulation in Hidalgo and Starr counties.
2-26 The notice must be published before the 35th day before the date
2-27 set for the election.
3-1 (j) The ballot shall specify that if South Texas Community
3-2 College is confirmed:
3-3 (1) the board of trustees must be composed of at least
3-4 one trustee for each county;
3-5 (2) the trustees must be elected from single-member
3-6 districts;
3-7 (3) the board of trustees may contract with The
3-8 University of Texas--Pan American to provide remedial and
3-9 lower-level courses; and
3-10 (4) the board of trustees may contract with public
3-11 schools to provide technical preparation courses.
3-12 (k) Immediately after the election, the presiding judge of
3-13 each polling place shall deliver returns of the election to the
3-14 board of trustees, and the board of trustees shall canvass the
3-15 returns and declare the result. If a majority of the votes cast at
3-16 the election favor confirmation of South Texas Community College,
3-17 the board of trustees shall declare the college confirmed and enter
3-18 the results in its minutes.
3-19 (l) If a majority of the votes cast at the election are
3-20 against the confirmation of South Texas Community College, the
3-21 board of trustees shall declare that the confirmation of the
3-22 college was defeated and shall enter the results in its minutes.
3-23 If a majority of the voters at the election vote against the
3-24 confirmation of South Texas Community College, the board of
3-25 trustees may call and hold additional confirmation elections.
3-26 (m) If South Texas Community College is not confirmed in
3-27 accordance with this section before August 31, 2000, the college is
4-1 abolished on that date.
4-2 (n) This section expires January 1, 2001.
4-3 SECTION 2. (a) Not later than the 30th day after the date
4-4 that a quorum of the initial board of trustees of South Texas
4-5 Community College has qualified for office, the governing board of
4-6 the Texas State Technical College System shall transfer the
4-7 records, contracts and other obligations, and real and personal
4-8 property of the McAllen extension center to the initial board of
4-9 trustees of South Texas Community College.
4-10 (b) In contracts or other obligations transferred under this
4-11 section, the board of trustees of South Texas Community College is
4-12 substituted for and acts in the place of the governing board of the
4-13 Texas State Technical College System.
4-14 (c) On the date that a quorum of the initial board of
4-15 trustees of South Texas Community College has qualified for office,
4-16 the unexpended and unobligated balance of the appropriation for the
4-17 fiscal biennium beginning September 1, 1993, to Texas State
4-18 Technical College--Harlingen for the McAllen extension center and
4-19 the McAllen physical plant is transferred and reappropriated to
4-20 South Texas Community College to operate the college.
4-21 (d) The initial board of trustees of South Texas Community
4-22 College shall direct the secretary of state to publish in the Texas
4-23 Register notice of:
4-24 (1) the creation of the college;
4-25 (2) the date that a quorum of the initial board has
4-26 qualified for office; and
4-27 (3) the abolition of the McAllen extension center of
5-1 the Texas State Technical College System.
5-2 SECTION 3. Subsection (a), Section 135.02, Education Code,
5-3 is amended to read as follows:
5-4 (a) The Texas State Technical College System is composed of:
5-5 (1) a system office located in the city of Waco in
5-6 McLennan County;
5-7 (2) a campus located in the city of Amarillo in Potter
5-8 County;
5-9 (3) a campus located in the city of Harlingen in
5-10 Cameron County;
5-11 (4) a campus located in the city of Sweetwater in
5-12 Nolan County;
5-13 (5) an extension center located in the city of
5-14 Marshall in Harrison County; <and>
5-15 (6) <(5)> a campus located in the city of Waco in
5-16 McLennan County;
5-17 (7) <(6)> extension centers in the city of Brownwood
5-18 <McAllen> in Brown <Hidalgo> County and the city of Abilene in
5-19 Taylor County and an extension program offered through a rural
5-20 technology center in the city of Breckenridge in Stephens County;
5-21 and
5-22 (8) <(7)> other campuses assigned to the system from
5-23 time to time by specific legislative Act.
5-24 SECTION 4. (a) Except as otherwise provided by this
5-25 section, this Act takes effect immediately.
5-26 (b) Sections 2 and 3 of this Act take effect on the date
5-27 that a quorum of the initial board of trustees of South Texas
6-1 Community College has qualified for office. If a quorum of the
6-2 initial board of trustees of South Texas Community College has not
6-3 qualified for office before August 31, 2000, Sections 2 and 3 of
6-4 this Act have no effect.
6-5 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
6-6 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-7 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-8 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-9 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
6-10 and that this Act take effect and be in force according to its
6-11 terms, and it is so enacted.