BILL ANALYSIS
By: McClendon
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Current law does not address the attendance of junior college or community college trustees at board meetings. Junior college meetings are an important forum for communication between the community, parents, teachers, students, and board members. However, there is no requirement for board trustees to attend these meetings. In fact, there have been egregious cases in both Austin and San Antonio in recent years in which board members abandoned their posts for more than a year. A board trustee could be absent from every meeting held by the board, and still remain in office. Districts suffer when their trustees do not regularly attend board meetings. The absence of trustees from board meetings obstructs communication and hinders decision-making within the district.
House Bill 295 would make unexcused absences from more than half of the board's scheduled meetings grounds for a trustee's removal.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
ANALYSIS
SECTION 1 - Provides that unexcused absences from more than half of the regularly scheduled board meetings, that a member is eligible to attend, is sufficient ground for the removal of a member of the board of trustees of a junior college district.
SECTION 2 – This provision applies to a member who is elected or appointed before, on, or after the effective date.
SECTION 3 – Effective date.
EFFECTIVE DATE
This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.