HBA-JLV H.B. 1127 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1127 By: Rangel Higher Education 2/19/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE In some cases, full-time members of the faculty at public institutions of higher education, both non-tenured and tenured, do not receive a contract or employment agreement from the administration until after the start of the academic year. Texas law does not currently address the date by which an institution of higher education must issue a contract or employment agreement to faculty members. House Bill 1127 provides standards governing the dates by which institutions of higher education must issue contracts or employment agreements to full-time faculty members. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 1127 amends the Education Code to require an institution of public education that intends to retain a faculty member of the institution for the next academic year to offer the faculty member a written contract not later than the 60th day before the first day of that academic year. The bill requires the institution to notify the faculty member by letter if the institution is unable to offer a written contract by the required date. The bill also requires the institution to include in the letter the reasons for the institution's inability to comply with the contract requirement, and a specified time by which the institution will offer a written contract. The bill provides that if the institution does not offer a faculty member a written contract before the 61st day after the first day of the academic year and the institution retains the faculty member for that academic year without a written contract, the institution must retain the faculty member for that academic year under terms that are at least as favorable as the terms governing the faculty member's employment and compensation for the preceding academic year. The institution must also pay the faculty member a penalty in the amount of 10% of the faculty member's salary for the preceding academic year. The bill does not prohibit an institution of higher education from entering into a contract with a faculty member for a period longer than an academic year. EFFECTIVE DATE January 1, 2002.