By Gallego                                             H.B. No. 746
         76R3890 KEL-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to a report on certain higher education employees serving
 1-3     as expert witnesses in suits against the state.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter C, Chapter 61, Education Code, is
 1-6     amended by adding Section 61.0815 to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 61.0815.  REPORT ON HIGHER EDUCATION EMPLOYEES SERVING
 1-8     AS EXPERT WITNESSES IN SUITS AGAINST STATE.  (a) In this section,
 1-9     "member of the faculty or professional staff of an institution of
1-10     higher education" means a person who is employed full-time by an
1-11     institution of higher education as a member of the faculty or staff
1-12     and whose duties include teaching, research, administration, or the
1-13     performance of professional services, including professional
1-14     library services.  The term does not include a person employed in a
1-15     position controlled by the institution's classified personnel
1-16     system or a person employed in a similar position if the
1-17     institution does not have a classified personnel system.
1-18           (b)  Not later than November 1 of each year, the board shall
1-19     submit to the governor and to the presiding officer of each house
1-20     of the legislature a written report regarding service by members of
1-21     the faculty or professional staff of institutions of higher
1-22     education as consulting or testifying expert witnesses in suits
1-23     against the state during the preceding state fiscal year.  The
1-24     report must specify:
 2-1                 (1)  the amounts of time spent by the faculty or
 2-2     professional staff members in connection with that service; and
 2-3                 (2)  the names, cause numbers, and outcomes of the
 2-4     cases in which that service was rendered, including the amounts of:
 2-5                       (A)  any judgments entered against the state;
 2-6                       (B)  any prejudgment or postjudgment interest
 2-7     awarded against the state; and
 2-8                       (C)  any attorney's fees of another party ordered
 2-9     to be paid by the state.
2-10           (c)  The attorney general and the president of each
2-11     institution of higher education shall collect all necessary data
2-12     for inclusion in the report required by this section.
2-13           SECTION 2.  (a)  Not later than the 90th day after the
2-14     effective date of this Act, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating
2-15     Board shall adopt rules to implement Section 61.0815, Education
2-16     Code, as added by this Act.
2-17           (b)  The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall
2-18     submit the first report required by Section 61.0815, Education
2-19     Code,  as added by this Act, not later than November 1, 2000.
2-20           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-21           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-22     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-23     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-24     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-25     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.