1-1     By:  Bivins                                           S.B. No. 1261
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 11, 1999; March 11, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Education; April 16, 1999,
 1-4     reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 8, Nays 0;
 1-5     April 16, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the appointment of faculty members to certain
 1-9     curriculum advisory committees of the Texas Higher Education
1-10     Coordinating Board and to the development of field of study
1-11     curricula by the board.
1-12           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-13           SECTION 1.  Section 61.821, Education Code, is amended by
1-14     adding Subdivision (3) to read as follows:
1-15                 (3)  "Faculty member" means a person who is employed
1-16     full-time by an institution of higher education as a member of the
1-17     faculty whose primary duties include teaching, research, academic
1-18     service, or administration.  However, the term does not include a
1-19     person holding faculty rank who spends a majority of the person's
1-20     time for the institution engaged in managerial or supervisory
1-21     activities, including a chancellor, vice chancellor, president,
1-22     vice president, provost, associate or assistant provost, or dean.
1-23           SECTION 2.  Subsection (a), Section 61.822, Education Code,
1-24     is amended to read as follows:
1-25           (a)  The board, with the assistance of advisory committees
1-26     composed of representatives of institutions of higher education,
1-27     shall develop a recommended core curriculum of at least 42 semester
1-28     credit hours, including a statement of the content, component
1-29     areas, and objectives of the core curriculum.  At least a majority
1-30     of the members of any advisory committee named under this section
1-31     shall be faculty members of an institution of higher education.  An
1-32     institution shall consult with the faculty of the institution
1-33     before nominating or recommending a person to the board as the
1-34     institution's representative on an advisory committee.
1-35           SECTION 3.  Subsection (a), Section 61.823, Education Code,
1-36     is amended to read as follows:
1-37           (a)  The board, with the assistance of advisory committees
1-38     composed of representatives of institutions of higher education,
1-39     may [shall] develop field of study curricula.  Each advisory
1-40     committee shall be equitably composed of representatives of
1-41     institutions of higher education. Each university system or
1-42     institution of higher education which offers a degree program for
1-43     which a field of study curriculum is proposed shall be offered
1-44     participation on the advisory committee for that particular field
1-45     of study.  At least a majority of the members of any advisory
1-46     committee named under this section shall be faculty members of an
1-47     institution of higher education.  An institution shall consult with
1-48     the faculty of the institution before nominating or recommending a
1-49     person to the board as the institution's representative on an
1-50     advisory committee.
1-51           SECTION 4.  The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
1-52     shall conduct a study to examine the need for and feasibility of
1-53     developing a field of study curriculum under Section 61.823,
1-54     Education Code, in the various fields of study common to
1-55     institutions of higher education.  Not later than September 1,
1-56     2000, the board shall report the results of the study to the
1-57     governing board of each public institution of higher education and
1-58     to the presiding officer of the standing committee in each house of
1-59     the legislature with primary jurisdiction over higher education.
1-60           SECTION 5.  Each advisory committee established by the Texas
1-61     Higher Education Coordinating Board under Subsection (a), Section
1-62     61.822, or Subsection (a), Section 61.823, Education Code, must
1-63     include a majority of faculty members, as defined by Subdivision
1-64     (3), Section 61.821, Education Code, as added by this Act, not
 2-1     later than January 1, 2000.
 2-2           SECTION 6.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-3     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-4     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-5     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-6     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
 2-7     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
 2-8     passage, and it is so enacted.
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