1-1 By: Swinford (Senate Sponsor - Bivins) H.B. No. 2507
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 8, 1995;
1-3 May 9, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Education; May 10, 1995, reported favorably by the following vote:
1-5 Yeas 10, Nays 0; May 10, 1995, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the lease of the Amarillo campus of the Texas State
1-9 Technical College System to Amarillo College.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS. In this Act:
1-12 (1) "College" means Amarillo College.
1-13 (2) "System" means the Texas State Technical College
1-14 System.
1-15 SECTION 2. LEASE AND TRANSFER AGREEMENT. (a) Before July
1-16 1, 1995, the board of regents of the Texas State Technical College
1-17 System shall enter into an agreement with the board of trustees of
1-18 Amarillo College to lease to the board of trustees of Amarillo
1-19 College for the consideration described in Subsection (d) the
1-20 Amarillo campus of the system located in the city of Amarillo,
1-21 Potter County, except the following parts of the campus: (1) the
1-22 part that lies west of B Avenue; (2) the part that lies north of
1-23 27th Street and its eastward extension known as 9th Street; and
1-24 (3) the part that lies east of K Avenue and north of Hospital
1-25 Drive and its eastward extension, including the former landfill of
1-26 the air base formerly situated on the property.
1-27 (b) The initial term of the lease shall be for a period of
1-28 20 years, beginning not later than September 1, 1995, and the lease
1-29 shall authorize the college to terminate the lease, on 180 days'
1-30 written notice, on September 1, 1997, or on each successive second
1-31 anniversary of that date.
1-32 (c) In addition to the lease of the described property,
1-33 before September 1, 1995, in the lease agreement or a separate
1-34 agreement the system shall transfer to the college all right,
1-35 title, and interest in the equipment, supplies, and other personal
1-36 property used by the system in the 1994-1995 academic year in the
1-37 operation of the system's programs on the leased property.
1-38 Notwithstanding this requirement, the college may agree to the
1-39 system's retaining any personal property, including any library
1-40 holdings that duplicate Amarillo College library holdings.
1-41 (d) In consideration of the lease and transfer described by
1-42 this section, the college shall agree to undertake, beginning with
1-43 the 1995-1996 academic year, operation of all programs operated by
1-44 or in connection with the campus during the 1994-1995 academic
1-45 year. The college shall operate through the 1995-1996 academic
1-46 year those programs that have continuing enrollment, but thereafter
1-47 may discontinue a program operated by or in connection with that
1-48 campus.
1-49 (e) The agreement shall provide for the transfer to the
1-50 college of system employees on the campus, but the college is not
1-51 required to retain all employees of the system or to employ those
1-52 retained in positions of the same title that the employees held
1-53 under the system.
1-54 SECTION 3. POWERS AND DUTIES. The board of trustees of the
1-55 college may govern, operate, manage, and control the leased campus
1-56 and all leased land, buildings, facilities, and improvements, and
1-57 all transferred personal property, pursuant to the powers, duties,
1-58 and responsibilities conferred by law on the board of trustees of
1-59 the college for the governance, operation, management, and control
1-60 of the college.
1-61 SECTION 4. APPROPRIATIONS AND FEDERAL FUNDS; BOND REPAYMENT.
1-62 (a) Implementation of the lease and transfer agreement is
1-63 contingent on certification by the Texas Public Finance Authority
1-64 that the legislature has appropriated for the fiscal year ending
1-65 August 31, 1996, an amount sufficient to establish an escrow for
1-66 defeasance of the Amarillo campus portion of the Texas State
1-67 Technical College System Building Revenue and Refunding Bonds,
1-68 Series 1992.
2-1 (b) The legislature may appropriate money to the college in
2-2 support of the lease and transfer agreement, including operation of
2-3 the leased campus and the operation of the former system programs
2-4 on the leased campus, and that money is in addition to junior
2-5 college formula funding for the college.
2-6 (c) Appropriations made to the system for the use and
2-7 benefit of the programs operated on the Amarillo campus for the
2-8 biennium ending August 31, 1997, are transferred to the college for
2-9 the use and benefit of programs operated on that campus.
2-10 (d) Any federal technical-vocational education money
2-11 designated for the 1995-1996 academic year for the system's
2-12 Amarillo campus, including a Perkins allocation or a continuing
2-13 Perkins discretionary grant, shall be transferred to the college
2-14 for the benefit of the campus.
2-15 SECTION 5. CONTRACTS AND WRITTEN OBLIGATIONS; ACCOUNTS
2-16 PAYABLE. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
2-17 section, contracts and written obligations of every kind and
2-18 character entered into by the board of regents of the system for
2-19 and on behalf of the system's Amarillo campus are ratified,
2-20 confirmed, and validated and remain the responsibility of the
2-21 system except to the extent assumed by the college in the lease and
2-22 transfer agreement or another agreement. In those contracts and
2-23 obligations expressly assumed by the college, the board of trustees
2-24 of the college is substituted for and stands and acts in the place
2-25 of the board of regents of the system.
2-26 (b) Bonds issued by or on behalf of the system for
2-27 constructing, improving, renovating, enlarging, or equipping
2-28 property, buildings, structures, facilities, roads, or related
2-29 infrastructure of the system's Amarillo campus remain the
2-30 obligation of the system.
2-31 (c) The system shall transfer to the college all money
2-32 applicable to the fall quarter, 1995, that the system collects
2-33 prior to the effective date of the lease and transfer agreement,
2-34 including receipts from tuition, fees, and auxiliary services and
2-35 accounts receivable for those purposes.
2-36 SECTION 6. LIABILITIES. (a) Except as otherwise provided
2-37 by this Act, any liability pertaining to the system's Amarillo
2-38 campus before the effective date of the lease and transfer
2-39 agreement, including leave of employees and employees' pay due
2-40 September 1, 1995, remains the responsibility of the system.
2-41 (b) Any future liabilities, whether strict or based on
2-42 negligence or on any other theory, that result from contamination
2-43 or other conditions present at the system's Amarillo campus before
2-44 the effective date of the lease or from any actions or omissions of
2-45 the system before the effective date of the lease remain the
2-46 responsibility of the system.
2-47 SECTION 7. EMPLOYEE INSURANCE AND OTHER BENEFITS. Any
2-48 contract or other agreement with a provider of insurance or
2-49 employee benefits that provides coverage for employees of the
2-50 system's Amarillo campus is not void nor does it terminate as a
2-51 result of this Act. Any such contract or agreement remains in full
2-52 force and effect as a contract or agreement of the college for the
2-53 employees transferred to the college until its date of expiration
2-54 unless it terminates before the expiration date in accordance with
2-55 its terms. All persons for whom the insurance or benefits are
2-56 provided are covered by the insurance or benefits in accordance
2-57 with the terms of those agreements until the respective dates of
2-58 termination or expiration of those agreements. The persons covered
2-59 by the agreements who are employees of the college on the
2-60 respective termination or expiration dates of those agreements
2-61 shall be included in any similar agreements that relate to other
2-62 employees of the college and that are in effect on the termination
2-63 or expiration dates. Money appropriated for provision of
2-64 insurance or benefits to the transferred employees shall be made
2-65 available to the college for the purpose for which the money is
2-66 appropriated.
2-67 SECTION 8. EFFECT ON STUDENTS. (a) This Act and the
2-68 agreement described by this Act do not affect the credit hours
2-69 earned by students at the system's Amarillo campus before the
2-70 effective date of this Act.
3-1 (b) Notwithstanding other law, until September 1, 2000, the
3-2 college may collect from students enrolled in programs on the
3-3 campus tuition and fees applicable to similar programs of the
3-4 system and may determine the residency of those students in
3-5 accordance with the law applicable to system students.
3-6 SECTION 9. EMERGENCY. The importance of this legislation
3-7 and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-8 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-9 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-10 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-11 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-12 passage, and it is so enacted.
3-13 * * * * *