By Pitts                                              H.B. No. 3100
       74R6635 CAS-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to health insurance coverage for employees of certain
    1-3  school districts.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Article 3.50-4, Insurance Code, is amended by
    1-6  adding Section 7A to read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 7A.  PARTICIPATION BY SCHOOL DISTRICTS.  (a)
    1-8  Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, an eligible
    1-9  school district may participate in the program as provided by this
   1-10  section and rules adopted under this section.
   1-11        (b)  To be eligible to participate in the program, a school
   1-12  district must:
   1-13              (1)  have had an enrollment of less than 750 students
   1-14  for the 1993-1994 school year; and
   1-15              (2)  have a wealth per student, computed in accordance
   1-16  with Section 36.001, Education Code, of less than $200,000.
   1-17        (c)  The trustee shall develop a plan, with the assistance of
   1-18  the Retirees Advisory Committee, under which employees of an
   1-19  eligible school district who participate in the Teacher Retirement
   1-20  System of Texas may enroll in a plan offered in the program.
   1-21        (d)  The trustee shall implement the plan developed under
   1-22  Subsection (c) of this section and shall adopt rules to provide for
   1-23  participation of an eligible school district, including rules that
   1-24  provide whether a school district employee may choose not to
    2-1  participate and that address the extent of any dependent coverage.
    2-2        (e)  The school district, the school district employee, and
    2-3  the state shall share equally in the cost of an employee's coverage
    2-4  under this article.  Funds collected under Section 44, Chapter 812,
    2-5  Acts of the 73rd Legislature, Regular Session, 1993, that were not
    2-6  spent for purposes of the study required by that provision shall be
    2-7  used to provide contingency reserves for coverage of school
    2-8  district employees under this section.
    2-9        SECTION 2.  Not later than September 1, 1996, the Teacher
   2-10  Retirement System of Texas shall develop and implement a plan to
   2-11  provide insurance coverage for employees of school districts in
   2-12  accordance with Section 7A, Article 3.50-4, Insurance Code, as
   2-13  added by this Act.
   2-14        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-15  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-16  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-17  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-18  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-19  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-20  passage, and it is so enacted.