By Armbrister                                          S.B. No. 975
         76R5036 CAG-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the sovereign immunity and liability to be sued of a
 1-3     junior college district.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter E, Chapter 130, Education Code, is
 1-6     amended by adding Section 130.0841 to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 130.0841.  GOVERNMENTAL IMMUNITY.  (a)  A junior college
 1-8     district and the governing board of a junior college district are
 1-9     immune from suit, and may sue and be sued,  in the same manner as a
1-10     general academic teaching institution and the governing board of a
1-11     general academic teaching institution.
1-12           (b)  In this section, "general academic teaching institution"
1-13     and "governing board" have the meanings assigned by Section 61.003.
1-14           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
1-15     applies only to a suit filed against a junior college district or
1-16     the governing board of a  junior college district on or after the
1-17     effective date of this Act. A suit filed against a junior college
1-18     district or the governing board of a junior college district before
1-19     the effective date of this Act is governed by the law as it existed
1-20     immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that law is
1-21     continued in effect for that purpose.
1-22           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-23     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-24     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-1     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-2     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.