81R7156 KSD-D
By: West S.B. No. 956
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the establishment of a law school in the city of Dallas
by the University of North Texas System.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter J, Chapter 105, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 105.502 to read as follows:
Sec. 105.502. UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS SYSTEM SCHOOL OF
LAW. (a) The board may establish and operate a school of law in
the city of Dallas as a professional school of the University of
North Texas System.
(b) In administering the law school, the board may prescribe
courses leading to customary degrees offered at other leading
American schools of law and may award those degrees.
(c) Until the University of North Texas at Dallas has been
administered as a general academic teaching institution for five
years, the board shall administer the law school as a professional
school of the system. After that period, the law school shall
become a professional school of the University of North Texas at
Dallas. Until the law school becomes a professional school of the
University of North Texas at Dallas, the law school is entitled to
formula funding as if the law school were a professional school of a
general academic teaching institution.
(d) Before the board establishes a law school under this
section, but not later than June 1, 2010, the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board shall prepare a feasibility study to determine
the actions the system must take to obtain accreditation of the law
school. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall
deliver a copy of the study to the chair of each legislative
standing committee or subcommittee with jurisdiction over higher
education.
SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 55, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 55.1775 to read as follows:
Sec. 55.1775. UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS SYSTEM; ADDITIONAL
BONDS. (a) In addition to the other authority granted by this
subchapter, the board of regents of the University of North Texas
System may acquire, purchase, construct, improve, renovate,
enlarge, or equip property, buildings, structures, or other
facilities, including roads and related infrastructure, for the law
school established in the city of Dallas by the University of North
Texas System, to be financed by the issuance of bonds in accordance
with this subchapter, including bonds issued in accordance with a
systemwide revenue financing program and secured as provided by
that program, in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $30
million.
(b) The board of regents may pledge irrevocably to the
payment of the bonds authorized by this section all or any part of
the revenue funds of an institution, branch, or entity of the
University of North Texas System, including student tuition
charges. The amount of a pledge made under this subsection may not
be reduced or abrogated while the bonds for which the pledge is
made, or bonds issued to refund those bonds, are outstanding.
(c) If sufficient funds are not available to the board of
regents to meet its obligations under this section, the board may
transfer funds among institutions, branches, and entities of the
University of North Texas System to ensure the most equitable and
efficient allocation of available resources for each institution,
branch, or entity to carry out its duties and purposes.
SECTION 3. Section 61.003(6), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(6) "Other agency of higher education" means The
University of Texas System, System Administration; Texas Western
University Museum; Texas A&M University System, Administrative and
General Offices; Texas Agricultural Experiment Station; Texas
Agricultural Extension Service; Rodent and Predatory Animal
Control Service (a part of the Texas Agricultural Extension
Service); Texas Engineering Experiment Station (including the
Texas Transportation Institute); Texas Engineering Extension
Service; Texas Forest Service; Texas Tech University Museum; Texas
State University System, System Administration; Sam Houston
Memorial Museum; Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum; Cotton
Research Committee of Texas; Water Resources Institute of Texas;
Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory; the University of
North Texas School of Law; and any other unit, division,
institution, or agency which shall be so designated by statute or
which may be established to operate as a component part of any
public senior college or university, or which may be so classified
as provided in this chapter.
SECTION 4. 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.