BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 4528

By: Chavez

Higher Education

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Currently, there is a shortage of lawyers in West Texas and the Texas-Mexico border region. Many citizens who live in those regions are forced to move great distances to attend law school and frequently do not return to those areas upon graduation. Establishing a law school to serve those regions would greatly strengthen the economy and provide legal aid to the area in which the school is established.

C.S.H.B. 4528 requires the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to conduct a feasibility study regarding the establishment of a public law school in the Texas-Mexico border region and to report the results to certain elected officials.

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. 4528 amends the Education Code to add a temporary provision, set to expire January 31, 2011, requiring the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to conduct a study examining the need for and feasibility of establishing a public law school in the Texas-Mexico border region, including in the study an analysis of potential locations for the establishment of such a law school within that region. The bill requires the board, not later than November 1, 2010, to report the results of the study to the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the house of representatives, and presiding officer of each legislative standing committee with primary jurisdiction over higher education.

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. 4528 differs from the original by requiring the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to conduct a feasibility study regarding the establishment of a public law school in the Texas-Mexico border region and to report the results to certain elected officials, whereas the original requires The University of Texas System board of regents to establish and operate a school of law at The University of Texas at El Paso. The substitute removes a provision in the original requiring the coordinating board, not later than June 1, 2010, to prepare a feasibility study to assist the board of regents in establishing the law school.