87R591 JES-F

By: Raymond H.B. No. 646

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the applicability of nepotism prohibitions to the appointment or employment of certain classroom teachers by school districts.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 573.061, Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 573.061. GENERAL EXCEPTIONS. Section 573.041 does not apply to:

(1) an appointment to the office of a notary public or to the confirmation of that appointment;

(2) an appointment of a page, secretary, attendant, or other employee by the legislature for attendance on any member of the legislature who, because of physical infirmities, is required to have a personal attendant;

(3) a confirmation of the appointment of an appointee appointed to a first term on a date when no individual related to the appointee within a degree described by Section 573.002 was a member of or a candidate for the legislature, or confirmation on reappointment of the appointee to any subsequent consecutive term;

(4) an appointment or employment of a bus driver by a school district if:

(A) the district is located wholly in a county with a population of less than 35,000; or

(B) the district is located in more than one county and the county in which the largest part of the district is located has a population of less than 35,000;

(5) an appointment or employment of a personal attendant by an officer of the state or a political subdivision of the state for attendance on the officer who, because of physical infirmities, is required to have a personal attendant;

(6) an appointment or employment of a substitute teacher by a school district;

(7) an appointment or employment of a classroom teacher, as defined by Section 5.001, Education Code, by a school district in a subject area or geographic area certified by the commissioner of education as experiencing a critical shortage of teachers;

(8) an appointment or employment of a person by a municipality that has a population of less than 200; or

(9) [(8)] an appointment of an election clerk under Section 32.031, Election Code, who is not related in the first degree by consanguinity or affinity to an elected official of the authority that appoints the election judges for that election.

SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only to the appointment or employment of a person by a school district on or after the effective date of this Act. A person who is appointed or employed by a school district before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect at the time the person was appointed or employed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.