By Luna                                                S.B. No. 491
         76R4105 CAS-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to legal services provided to school districts.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 44, Education Code, is
 1-5     amended by adding Section 44.042 to read as follows:
 1-6           Sec. 44.042.  CONTRACTS FOR LEGAL SERVICES.  (a)  An attorney
 1-7     representing a school district serves at the will of the school
 1-8     district, notwithstanding the terms of a contract to the contrary.
 1-9     A contract for legal services that purports to bind the school
1-10     district for a fixed term, or that obligates the district to pay a
1-11     retainer or other payments in excess of payments for services
1-12     actually rendered, is void.
1-13           (b)  This section does not apply to an attorney who is a
1-14     salaried employee of the school district.
1-15           SECTION 2.  Section 44.042, Education Code, as added by this
1-16     Act, does not apply to a contract for legal services entered into
1-17     by the board of trustees of a school district before the effective
1-18     date of this Act.
1-19           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-20           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-21     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-22     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-23     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-24     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.