73R7345 SOS-F
By Lucio, et al. S.B. No. 251
Substitute the following for S.B. No. 251:
By Delco C.S.S.B. No. 251
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the conversion of the McAllen extension center of the
1-3 Texas State Technical College System to a joint-county junior
1-4 college.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 130, Education Code, is
1-7 amended by adding Section 130.0311 to read as follows:
1-8 Sec. 130.0311. SOUTH TEXAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE. (a) The
1-9 McAllen extension center of the Texas State Technical College
1-10 System is converted to a joint-county junior college located in
1-11 Hidalgo and Starr counties to be known as South Texas Community
1-12 College.
1-13 (b) South Texas Community College's territory consists of
1-14 the area within the boundaries of Hidalgo and Starr counties.
1-15 (c) South Texas Community College is governed by an initial
1-16 board of trustees composed of seven members appointed by the
1-17 governor to serve until the earlier of August 31, 2000, or the date
1-18 that an election is held at which a majority of the votes cast at
1-19 the election favor the confirmation of the college.
1-20 (d) Not later than September 1, 1993, the governor shall
1-21 appoint at least one member of the initial board of trustees from
1-22 Hidalgo County and at least one member from Starr County. A
1-23 trustee shall, during the trustee's term of office, reside in the
1-24 county from which the trustee was appointed.
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. To be eligible for appointment, the individual
2-4 must be a resident of the county from which the original
2-5 appointment was made.
2-6 (f) The board of trustees may employ staff to operate South
2-7 Texas Community College.
2-8 (g) Notwithstanding Section 130.003 of this code, South
2-9 Texas Community College is not required to levy and collect ad
2-10 valorem taxes, to comply with other laws, rules, and regulations
2-11 governing the establishment of public junior colleges, or to be
2-12 certified as a public junior college under Section 61.063 of this
2-13 code to be eligible for and to receive a proportionate share of the
2-14 appropriation under Section 130.003 of this code.
2-15 (h) Notwithstanding Sections 130.032-130.039 and
2-16 130.042-130.044 of this code, the board of trustees of South Texas
2-17 Community College shall call and hold an election within Hidalgo
2-18 and Starr counties not later than January 1, 1996, to confirm the
2-19 creation of the college and to authorize the election of the board
2-20 of trustees from single-member districts established by the board
2-21 of trustees, the issuance of bonds, and the imposition of taxes.
2-22 (i) Notice of the election shall state the day and places
2-23 for holding the election and the proposition to be voted on and
2-24 shall list the appointed board of trustees. The board of trustees
2-25 shall publish the notice of the election one time in one or more
2-26 newspapers of general circulation in Hidalgo and Starr counties.
2-27 The notice must be published before the 35th day before the date
3-1 set for the election.
3-2 (j) The ballot shall specify that if South Texas Community
3-3 College is confirmed:
3-4 (1) the board of trustees must be composed of at least
3-5 one trustee for each county;
3-6 (2) the trustees must be elected from single-member
3-7 districts;
3-8 (3) the board of trustees may contract with The
3-9 University of Texas--Pan American to provide remedial and
3-10 lower-level courses; and
3-11 (4) the board of trustees may contract with public
3-12 schools to provide technical preparation courses.
3-13 (k) Immediately after the election, the presiding judge of
3-14 each polling place shall deliver returns of the election to the
3-15 board of trustees, and the board of trustees shall canvass the
3-16 returns and declare the result. If a majority of the votes cast at
3-17 the election favor confirmation of South Texas Community College,
3-18 the board of trustees shall declare the college confirmed and enter
3-19 the results in its minutes.
3-20 (l) If a majority of the votes cast at the election are
3-21 against the confirmation of South Texas Community College, the
3-22 board of trustees shall declare that the confirmation of the
3-23 college was defeated and shall enter the results in its minutes.
3-24 If a majority of the voters at the election vote against the
3-25 confirmation of South Texas Community College, the board of
3-26 trustees may call and hold additional confirmation elections.
3-27 (m) If South Texas Community College is not confirmed in
4-1 accordance with this section before August 31, 2000, the college is
4-2 abolished on that date.
4-3 (n) This section expires January 1, 2001.
4-4 SECTION 2. (a) Not later than the 30th day after the date
4-5 that a quorum of the initial board of trustees of South Texas
4-6 Community College has qualified for office, the governing board of
4-7 the Texas State Technical College System shall transfer the
4-8 records, contracts and other obligations, and real and personal
4-9 property of the McAllen extension center to the initial board of
4-10 trustees of South Texas Community College.
4-11 (b) In contracts or other obligations transferred under this
4-12 section, the board of trustees of South Texas Community College is
4-13 substituted for and acts in the place of the governing board of the
4-14 Texas State Technical College System.
4-15 (c) On the date that a quorum of the initial board of
4-16 trustees of South Texas Community College has qualified for office,
4-17 the unexpended and unobligated balance of the appropriation for the
4-18 fiscal biennium beginning September 1, 1993, to Texas State
4-19 Technical College--Harlingen for the McAllen extension center and
4-20 the McAllen physical plant is transferred and reappropriated to
4-21 South Texas Community College to operate the college.
4-22 (d) The initial board of trustees of South Texas Community
4-23 College shall direct the secretary of state to publish in the Texas
4-24 Register notice of:
4-25 (1) the creation of the college;
4-26 (2) the date that a quorum of the initial board has
4-27 qualified for office; and
5-1 (3) the abolition of the McAllen extension center of
5-2 the Texas State Technical College System.
5-3 SECTION 3. Subsection (a), Section 135.02, Education Code,
5-4 is amended to read as follows:
5-5 (a) The Texas State Technical College System is composed of:
5-6 (1) a system office located in the city of Waco in
5-7 McLennan County;
5-8 (2) a campus located in the city of Amarillo in Potter
5-9 County;
5-10 (3) a campus located in the city of Harlingen in
5-11 Cameron County;
5-12 (4) a campus located in the city of Sweetwater in
5-13 Nolan County;
5-14 (5) an extension center located in the city of
5-15 Marshall in Harrison County; <and>
5-16 (6) <(5)> a campus located in the city of Waco in
5-17 McLennan County;
5-18 (7) <(6)> extension centers in the city of Brownwood
5-19 <McAllen> in Brown <Hidalgo> County and the city of Abilene in
5-20 Taylor County and an extension program offered through a rural
5-21 technology center in the city of Breckenridge in Stephens County;
5-22 and
5-23 (8) <(7)> other campuses assigned to the system from
5-24 time to time by specific legislative Act.
5-25 SECTION 4. (a) Except as otherwise provided by this
5-26 section, this Act takes effect immediately.
5-27 (b) Sections 2 and 3 of this Act take effect on the date
6-1 that a quorum of the initial board of trustees of South Texas
6-2 Community College has qualified for office. If a quorum of the
6-3 initial board of trustees of South Texas Community College has not
6-4 qualified for office before August 31, 2000, Sections 2 and 3 of
6-5 this Act have no effect.
6-6 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
6-7 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-8 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-9 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-10 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
6-11 and that this Act take effect and be in force according to its
6-12 terms, and it is so enacted.