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78R10513 ESH-F


By:  Madden                                                       H.B. No. 1277

Substitute the following for H.B. No. 1277:                                   

By:  Madden                                                   C.S.H.B. No. 1277



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to assignments, pledges, or transfers of school employees' 
salaries or wages.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 22.002, Education Code, is amended by 
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsections (b-1) and (b-2) to 
read as follows:
	(b)  Any school employee's assignment, pledge, or transfer, 
as security for indebtedness, of any interest in or part of the 
employee's salary or wages then due or that may become due under an 
existing contract of employment is enforceable only:
		(1)  if, before or at the time of execution, delivery, 
or acceptance of an assignment, pledge, or transfer, the employee 
obtains the written approval of the employing school district [is 
obtained] in accordance with district [the] policy; [of the 
employing school district; and]
		(2)  if the employee delivers a copy of the assignment, 
pledge, or transfer to the school district and pays any applicable 
administrative fee not later than the seventh day after:
			(A)  the first day of instruction for the school 
year for which the assignment, pledge, or transfer is to be 
effective; or
			(B)  the date on which the employee is hired, if 
the employee is hired after the first day of instruction for the 
school year; and
		(3)  to the extent that the indebtedness the 
assignment, pledge, or transfer [it] secures is a valid and 
enforceable obligation.
	(b-1)  A school district may charge a school employee a 
reasonable administrative fee for honoring an assignment, pledge, 
or transfer under this section.
	(b-2)  A school district may adopt a policy under which an 
employee as to whom the district is honoring an assignment, pledge, 
or transfer of salary or wages for a school year and who incurs a new 
obligation during the school year may have additional deductions 
made during the school year.  A school district may not charge an 
additional administrative fee for deductions under this 
subsection.
	SECTION 2.  Section 22.002, Education Code, as amended by 
this Act, applies only to an assignment, pledge, or transfer of a 
school employee's salary or wages for which written approval of the 
employing school district is obtained on or after the effective 
date of this Act.  An assignment, pledge, or transfer of a school 
employee's salary or wages for which written approval of the 
employing school district is obtained before the effective date of 
this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the approval 
was obtained, and the former law is continued in effect for that 
purpose.
	SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives 
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as 
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this 
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this 
Act takes effect September 1, 2003.