1-1     By:  Gallego (Senate Sponsor - West)                   H.B. No. 746
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 9, 1999;
 1-3     April 12, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
 1-4     Education; May 7, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable
 1-5     Committee Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 7, Nays 0;
 1-6     May 7, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 746                By:  Zaffirini
 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-9                                   AN ACT
1-10     relating to a report on certain higher education employees serving
1-11     as expert witnesses in suits against the state.
1-12           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-13           SECTION 1.  Subchapter C, Chapter 61, Education Code, is
1-14     amended by adding Section 61.0815 to read as follows:
1-15           Sec. 61.0815.  REPORT ON HIGHER EDUCATION EMPLOYEES SERVING
1-16     AS EXPERT WITNESSES IN SUITS AGAINST STATE.  (a)  In this section,
1-17     "member of the faculty or professional staff of an institution of
1-18     higher education" means a person who is employed full-time by an
1-19     institution of higher education as a member of the faculty or staff
1-20     and whose duties include teaching, research, administration, or the
1-21     performance of professional services, including professional
1-22     library services.  The term does not include a person employed in a
1-23     position controlled by the institution's classified personnel
1-24     system or a person employed in a similar position if the
1-25     institution does not have a classified personnel system.
1-26           (b)  Not later than November 1 of each year, the board shall
1-27     submit to the governor and to the presiding officer of each house
1-28     of the legislature a written report regarding compensated service
1-29     by members of the faculty or professional staff of institutions of
1-30     higher education as testifying expert witnesses in suits in which
1-31     the state is a party during the preceding state fiscal year.  The
1-32     information in the report shall be reported in the aggregate,
1-33     without identifying specific individuals or institutions of higher
1-34     education.  The report must specify:
1-35                 (1)  the amounts of time spent by the faculty or
1-36     professional staff members in connection with that service; and
1-37                 (2)  the names, cause numbers, and outcomes of the
1-38     cases in which that service was rendered, including the amounts of:
1-39                       (A)  any judgments entered against the state;
1-40                       (B)  any prejudgment or postjudgment interest
1-41     awarded against the state; and
1-42                       (C)  any attorney's fees of another party ordered
1-43     to be paid by the state.
1-44           (c)  The attorney general and the president of each
1-45     institution of higher education shall collect all necessary data
1-46     for inclusion in the report required by this section.
1-47           SECTION 2.  (a)  Not later than the 90th day after the
1-48     effective date of this Act, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating
1-49     Board shall adopt rules to implement Section 61.0815, Education
1-50     Code, as added by this Act.
1-51           (b)  The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall
1-52     submit the first report required by Section 61.0815, Education
1-53     Code, as added by this Act, not later than November 1, 2000.
1-54           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-55           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-56     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-57     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-58     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-59     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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