By:  Armbrister                                        S.B. No. 975
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to the sovereign immunity and liability to be sued of a
 1-2     junior college district.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 130.084, Education Code, is amended to
 1-5     read as follows:
 1-6           Sec. 130.084.  POWERS AND DUTIES. Except as provided by
 1-7     Section 130.0841, the [The] board of trustees of junior college
 1-8     districts shall be governed in the establishment, management and
 1-9     control of the junior college by the general law governing the
1-10     establishment, management and control of independent school
1-11     districts insofar as the general law is applicable.
1-12           SECTION 2.  Subchapter E, Chapter 130, Education Code, is
1-13     amended by adding Section 130.0841 to read as follows:
1-14           Sec. 130.0841.  SUITS AND IMMUNITY.  (a)  The board of
1-15     trustees of a junior college district has the power to sue in the
1-16     name of the junior college district.
1-17           (b)  Except as otherwise provided by this section, a junior
1-18     college district and the board of trustees of a junior college
1-19     district are immune from suit, and may be sued, in the same manner
1-20     as a general academic teaching institution and the governing board
1-21     of a general academic teaching institution.
1-22           (c)  Except as provided by Subsection (d), this section does
1-23     not constitute consent to suit.  A person may sue or otherwise
1-24     bring a claim against a junior college district or the board of
 2-1     trustees of a junior college only with legislative consent under
 2-2     Chapter 107, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, or as otherwise
 2-3     expressly authorized by law.
 2-4           (d)  Nothing in this section affects the partial exclusion of
 2-5     junior college districts from Chapter 101, Civil Practice and
 2-6     Remedies Code, as described in Section 101.051, Civil Practice and
 2-7     Remedies Code.
 2-8           (e)  In this section, "general academic teaching institution"
 2-9     and "governing board" have the meanings assigned by Section 61.003.
2-10           SECTION 3.  This Act applies only to a suit filed against a
2-11     junior college district or the governing body of a junior college
2-12     district on or after the effective date of this Act.
2-13           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-14     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-15     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-16     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-17     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-18     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-19     passage, and it is so enacted.