1-1     By:  Armbrister                                        S.B. No. 975
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 8, 1999; March 9, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;
 1-4     April 28, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
 1-5     Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 3, Nays 0; April 28, 1999,
 1-6     sent to printer.)
 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 975                    By:  Brown
 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-9                                   AN ACT
1-10     relating to the sovereign immunity and liability to be sued of a
1-11     junior college district.
1-12           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-13           SECTION 1.  Section 130.084, Education Code, is amended to
1-14     read as follows:
1-15           Sec. 130.084.  POWERS AND DUTIES. Except as provided by
1-16     Section 130.0841, the [The] board of trustees of junior college
1-17     districts shall be governed in the establishment, management and
1-18     control of the junior college by the general law governing the
1-19     establishment, management and control of independent school
1-20     districts insofar as the general law is applicable.
1-21           SECTION 2.  Subchapter E, Chapter 130, Education Code, is
1-22     amended by adding Section 130.0841 to read as follows:
1-23           Sec. 130.0841.  SUITS AND IMMUNITY.  (a)  The board of
1-24     trustees of a junior college district has the power to sue in the
1-25     name of the junior college district.
1-26           (b)  Except as otherwise provided by this section, a junior
1-27     college district and the board of trustees of a junior college
1-28     district are immune from suit, and may be sued, in the same manner
1-29     as a general academic teaching institution and the governing board
1-30     of a general academic teaching institution.
1-31           (c)  Except as provided by Subsection (d), this section does
1-32     not constitute consent to suit.  A person may sue or otherwise
1-33     bring a claim against a junior college district or the board of
1-34     trustees of a junior college only with legislative consent under
1-35     Chapter 107, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, or as otherwise
1-36     expressly authorized by law.
1-37           (d)  Nothing in this section affects the partial exclusion of
1-38     junior college districts from Chapter 101, Civil Practice and
1-39     Remedies Code, as described in Section 101.051, Civil Practice and
1-40     Remedies Code.
1-41           (e)  In this section, "general academic teaching institution"
1-42     and "governing board" have the meanings assigned by Section 61.003.
1-43           SECTION 3.  This Act applies only to a suit filed against a
1-44     junior college district or the governing body of a junior college
1-45     district on or after the effective date of this Act.
1-46           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-47     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-48     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-49     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-50     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-51     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-52     passage, and it is so enacted.
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