BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 710

By: Rose

Public Education

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The Texas Legislature created the Sunset Advisory Commission in 1977 to identify and eliminate waste, duplication, and inefficiency in government agencies.  As a stand-alone board, the State Board of Education (SBOE) has never been subject to sunset review.

SBOE is statutorily required to establish curriculum and graduation requirements, establish a standard of performance considered satisfactory on student assessments, grant open-enrollment charters, approve and adopt textbooks, and invest the permanent school fund.  These are tremendous responsibilities with far-reaching implications.

C.S.H.B. 710 requires that SBOE be placed under periodic review by the Sunset Advisory Commission, but does not permit it to be abolished.

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

C.S.H.B. 710 amends the Education Code to provide that the State Board of Education (SBOE) is subject to review under the Texas Sunset Act but is not abolished under that act.  The bill requires SBOE to be reviewed by the Sunset Advisory Commission during the same periods in which the Texas Education Agency is reviewed by the commission.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the act does not receive the necessary vote, the act takes effect September 1, 2009.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B 710 differs from the original by requiring the State Board of Education to be reviewed by the Sunset Advisory Committee during the same periods in which the Texas Education Agency is reviewed by the commission, whereas the original requires the board to be reviewed during the periods in which state agencies scheduled to be abolished in 2011 and every 12th year after that are reviewed.