H.B. No. 2507
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the lease of the Amarillo campus of the Texas State
    1-3  Technical College System to Amarillo College.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  DEFINITIONS.  In this Act:
    1-6              (1)  "College"  means Amarillo College.
    1-7              (2)  "System"  means the Texas State Technical College
    1-8  System.
    1-9        SECTION 2.  LEASE AND TRANSFER AGREEMENT.  (a)  Before July
   1-10  1, 1995, the board of regents of the Texas State Technical College
   1-11  System shall enter into an agreement with the board of trustees of
   1-12  Amarillo College to lease to the board of trustees of Amarillo
   1-13  College for the consideration described in Subsection (d) the
   1-14  Amarillo campus of the system located in the city of Amarillo,
   1-15  Potter County, except the following parts of the campus:  (1)  the
   1-16  part that lies west of B Avenue; (2)  the part that lies north of
   1-17  27th Street and its eastward extension known as 9th Street; and
   1-18  (3)  the part that lies east of K Avenue and north of Hospital
   1-19  Drive and its eastward extension, including the former landfill of
   1-20  the air base formerly situated on the property.
   1-21        (b)  The initial term of the lease shall be for a period of
   1-22  20 years, beginning not later than September 1, 1995, and the lease
   1-23  shall authorize the college to terminate the lease, on 180 days'
   1-24  written notice, on September 1, 1997, or on each successive second
    2-1  anniversary of that date.
    2-2        (c)  In addition to the lease of the described property,
    2-3  before September 1, 1995, in the lease agreement or a separate
    2-4  agreement the system shall transfer to the college all right,
    2-5  title, and interest in the equipment, supplies, and other personal
    2-6  property used by the system in the 1994-1995 academic year in the
    2-7  operation of the system's programs on the leased property.
    2-8  Notwithstanding this requirement, the college may agree to the
    2-9  system's retaining any personal property, including any library
   2-10  holdings that duplicate Amarillo College library holdings.
   2-11        (d)  In consideration of the lease and transfer described by
   2-12  this section, the college shall agree to undertake, beginning with
   2-13  the 1995-1996 academic year, operation of all programs operated by
   2-14  or in connection with the campus during the 1994-1995 academic
   2-15  year.  The college shall operate through the 1995-1996 academic
   2-16  year those programs that have continuing enrollment, but thereafter
   2-17  may discontinue a program operated by or in connection with that
   2-18  campus.
   2-19        (e)  The agreement shall provide for the transfer to the
   2-20  college of system employees on the campus, but the college is not
   2-21  required to retain all employees of the system or to employ those
   2-22  retained in positions of the same title that the employees held
   2-23  under the system.
   2-24        SECTION 3.  POWERS AND DUTIES.  The board of trustees of the
   2-25  college may govern, operate, manage, and control the leased campus
   2-26  and all leased land, buildings, facilities, and  improvements, and
   2-27  all transferred personal property, pursuant to the powers, duties,
    3-1  and responsibilities conferred by law on the board of trustees of
    3-2  the college for the governance, operation, management, and control
    3-3  of the college.
    3-4        SECTION 4.  APPROPRIATIONS AND FEDERAL FUNDS; BOND REPAYMENT.
    3-5  (a)  Implementation of the lease and transfer agreement is
    3-6  contingent on certification by the Texas Public Finance Authority
    3-7  that the legislature has appropriated for the fiscal year ending
    3-8  August 31, 1996, an amount sufficient to establish an escrow for
    3-9  defeasance of the Amarillo campus portion of the Texas State
   3-10  Technical College System Building Revenue and Refunding Bonds,
   3-11  Series 1992.
   3-12        (b)  The legislature may appropriate money to the college in
   3-13  support of the lease and transfer agreement, including operation of
   3-14  the leased campus and the operation of the former system programs
   3-15  on the leased campus, and that money is in addition to junior
   3-16  college formula funding for the college.
   3-17        (c)  Appropriations made to the system for the use and
   3-18  benefit of the programs operated on the Amarillo campus for the
   3-19  biennium ending August 31, 1997, are transferred to the college for
   3-20  the use and benefit of programs operated on that campus.
   3-21        (d)  Any federal technical-vocational education money
   3-22  designated for the 1995-1996 academic year for the system's
   3-23  Amarillo campus, including a Perkins allocation or a continuing
   3-24  Perkins discretionary grant, shall be transferred to the college
   3-25  for the benefit of the campus.
   3-26        SECTION 5.  CONTRACTS AND WRITTEN OBLIGATIONS; ACCOUNTS
   3-27  PAYABLE.  (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
    4-1  section, contracts and written obligations of every kind and
    4-2  character entered into by the board of regents of the system for
    4-3  and on behalf of the system's Amarillo campus are ratified,
    4-4  confirmed, and validated and remain the responsibility of the
    4-5  system except to the extent assumed by the college in the lease and
    4-6  transfer agreement or another agreement.  In those contracts and
    4-7  obligations expressly assumed by the college, the board of trustees
    4-8  of the college is substituted for and stands and acts in the place
    4-9  of the board of regents of the system.
   4-10        (b)  Bonds issued by or on behalf of the system for
   4-11  constructing, improving, renovating, enlarging, or equipping
   4-12  property, buildings, structures, facilities, roads, or related
   4-13  infrastructure of the system's Amarillo campus remain the
   4-14  obligation of the system.
   4-15        (c)  The system shall transfer to the college all money
   4-16  applicable to the fall quarter, 1995, that the system collects
   4-17  prior to the effective date of the lease and transfer agreement,
   4-18  including receipts from tuition, fees, and auxiliary services and
   4-19  accounts receivable for those purposes.
   4-20        SECTION 6.  LIABILITIES.  (a)  Except as otherwise provided
   4-21  by this Act, any liability pertaining to the system's Amarillo
   4-22  campus before the effective date of the lease and transfer
   4-23  agreement, including leave of employees and employees' pay due
   4-24  September 1, 1995, remains the responsibility of the system.
   4-25        (b)  Any future liabilities, whether strict or based on
   4-26  negligence or on any other theory, that result from contamination
   4-27  or other conditions present at the system's Amarillo campus before
    5-1  the effective date of the lease or from any actions or omissions of
    5-2  the system before the effective date of the lease remain the
    5-3  responsibility of the system.
    5-4        SECTION 7.  EMPLOYEE INSURANCE AND OTHER BENEFITS.  Any
    5-5  contract or other agreement with a provider of insurance or
    5-6  employee benefits that provides coverage for employees of the
    5-7  system's Amarillo campus is not void nor does it terminate as a
    5-8  result of this Act.  Any such contract or agreement remains in full
    5-9  force and effect as a contract or agreement of the college for the
   5-10  employees transferred to the college until its date of expiration
   5-11  unless it terminates before the expiration date in accordance with
   5-12  its terms.  All persons for whom the insurance or benefits are
   5-13  provided are covered by the insurance or benefits in accordance
   5-14  with the terms of those agreements until the respective dates of
   5-15  termination or expiration of those agreements.  The persons covered
   5-16  by the agreements who are employees of the college on the
   5-17  respective termination or expiration dates of those agreements
   5-18  shall be included in any similar agreements that relate to other
   5-19  employees of the college and that are in effect on the termination
   5-20  or expiration dates.   Money appropriated for provision of
   5-21  insurance or benefits to the transferred employees shall be made
   5-22  available to the college for the purpose for which the money is
   5-23  appropriated.
   5-24        SECTION 8.  EFFECT ON STUDENTS.  (a)  This Act and the
   5-25  agreement described by this Act do not affect  the credit hours
   5-26  earned by students at the system's Amarillo campus before the
   5-27  effective date of this Act.
    6-1        (b)  Notwithstanding other law, until September 1, 2000, the
    6-2  college may collect from students enrolled in programs on the
    6-3  campus tuition and fees applicable to similar programs of the
    6-4  system and may determine the residency of those students in
    6-5  accordance with the law applicable to system students.
    6-6        SECTION 9.  EMERGENCY.  The importance of this legislation
    6-7  and the 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 from and after its
   6-12  passage, and it is so enacted.