By Davis of Dallas                                    H.B. No. 1992
         76R6990 ESH-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to removal from office of the commissioner of education.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 7.053, Education Code, is amended to read
 1-5     as follows:
 1-6           Sec. 7.053.  REMOVAL FROM OFFICE.  (a)  The governor, with
 1-7     the advice and consent of the senate, may remove the commissioner
 1-8     from office as provided by Section 9, Article XV, Texas
 1-9     Constitution.
1-10           (b)  If a school district repeatedly fails to satisfy the
1-11     accreditation standards prescribed by Subchapter D, Chapter 39, and
1-12     the commissioner fails to impose an appropriate sanction under
1-13     Section 39.131, the commissioner forfeits the office and may be
1-14     removed through an action in the nature of quo warranto as provided
1-15     by Chapter 66, Civil Practice and Remedies Code.  The attorney
1-16     general may on the attorney general's own motion and shall on
1-17     receipt of a petition complying with Subsections (c) and (d) file a
1-18     petition for leave to file an information under that chapter.
1-19     Venue for an action under this subsection is in Travis County.
1-20           (c)  A petition for the removal of the commissioner must be
1-21     signed by at least the following percentage of the registered
1-22     voters of the school district:
1-23                 (1)  25 percent, if the district has an enrollment of
1-24     500 students or less;
 2-1                 (2)  20 percent, if the district has an enrollment of
 2-2     501 to 2,000 students;
 2-3                 (3)  15 percent, if the district has an enrollment of
 2-4     2,001 to 10,000 students;
 2-5                 (4)  10 percent, if the district has an enrollment of
 2-6     10,001 to 50,000 students; or
 2-7                 (5)  five percent, if the district has an enrollment of
 2-8     50,001 students or more.
 2-9           (d)  The petition must show the name, address, and telephone
2-10     number of each person signing the petition and must include the
2-11     date on which the person signed the petition.  A petition signature
2-12     is invalid if the signer signed the petition earlier than the 90th
2-13     day before the date the petition is delivered to the attorney
2-14     general.
2-15           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-16     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-17     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-18     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-19     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-20     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-21     passage, and it is so enacted.