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.