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.
1-53 * * * * *