H.B. No. 829
AN ACT
relating to appeals to the commissioner of education.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 7.057, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (a-1) to read as
follows:
(a-1) A person is not required to appeal to the commissioner
before pursuing a remedy under a law outside of Title 1 or this
title to which Title 1 or this title makes reference or with which
Title 1 or this title requires compliance.
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (c), the
commissioner[,] after due notice to the parties interested[,]
shall, not later than the 180th day after the date an appeal under
Subsection (a) is filed, hold a hearing and issue a decision without
cost to the parties involved. In conducting a hearing under this
subsection, the commissioner has the same authority relating to
discovery and conduct of a hearing as a hearing examiner has under
Subchapter F, Chapter 21. This section does not deprive any party
of any legal remedy.
SECTION 2. Section 7.057(b), Education Code, as amended by
this Act, applies only to an appeal to the commissioner of education
filed on or after the effective date of this Act. An appeal to the
commissioner of education filed before the effective date of this
Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the appeal was
filed, and that 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, 2009.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 829 was passed by the House on May 1,
2009, by the following vote: Yeas 142, Nays 0, 1 present, not
voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 829 was passed by the Senate on May
23, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor