Bill Text: TX HB4271 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to the administration of public institutions of higher education, including certain restrictions on hiring and tenure decisions, curriculum, and involvement in litigation.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-03-29 - Referred to Higher Education [HB4271 Detail]

Download: Texas-2021-HB4271-Introduced.html

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87R13990 KJE-F
By: Schaefer H.B. No. 4271

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the administration of public institutions of higher
education, including certain restrictions on hiring and tenure
decisions, curriculum, and involvement in litigation.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 51.942(c), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(c) In addition to any other provisions adopted by the
governing board, the rules shall include provisions providing that:
(1) each faculty member tenured at the institution be
subject to a comprehensive performance evaluation process
conducted no more often than once every year, but no less often than
once every six years, after the date the faculty member was granted
tenure or received an academic promotion at the institution;
(2) the evaluation be based on the professional
responsibilities of the faculty member, in teaching, research,
service, patient care, and administration, and include peer review
of the faculty member;
(3) the process be directed toward the professional
development of the faculty member;
(4) the process incorporate commonly recognized
academic due process rights, including notice of the manner and
scope of the evaluation, the opportunity to provide documentation
during the evaluation process, and, before a faculty member may be
subject to disciplinary action on the basis of an evaluation
conducted pursuant to this section, notice of specific charges and
an opportunity for hearing on those charges; and
(5) a faculty member be subject to revocation of
tenure or other appropriate disciplinary action if the governing
board determines that:
(A) the faculty member:
(i) is incompetent;
(ii) has failed to produce any work of
scholarship since the preceding performance evaluation under this
section;
(iii) has not taught a course at the
institution in any three consecutive academic years; or
(iv) has engaged in [incompetency,] neglect
of duty;[,] or
(B) other good cause exists for the revocation or
disciplinary action [is determined to be present].
SECTION 2. Subchapter Z, Chapter 51, Education Code, is
amended by adding Sections 51.9602, 51.982, and 51.983 to read as
follows:
Sec. 51.9602. DISCRIMINATION PROHIBITED IN FACULTY HIRING
AND TENURE DECISIONS. (a) In this section:
(1) "Faculty member" has the meaning assigned by
Section 51.917.
(2) "Institution of higher education" has the meaning
assigned by Section 61.003.
(b) An institution of higher education may not discriminate
against or give preferential treatment to any person on the basis of
race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or political,
ideological, or religious beliefs in making hiring or tenure
decisions for faculty members at the institution.
(c) An institution of higher education shall require each
person involved in making hiring or tenure decisions for faculty
members at the institution to certify in writing and under oath
whether the person:
(1) has witnessed or engaged in discrimination or
preferential treatment prohibited under Subsection (b) in
connection with the decision; or
(2) has reason to believe that the decision was
affected by such discrimination or preferential treatment.
(d) An institution of higher education shall maintain a copy
of each certification required under Subsection (c) for not less
than four years from the date the certification is made.
(e) Any person who believes that an institution of higher
education has violated this section may bring an action for
injunctive relief to compel the institution to comply with this
section or to recover compensatory damages, court costs, and
reasonable attorney's fees. If the court finds that the
institution has repeatedly violated this section, the court may
order any equitable relief the court determines appropriate,
including by issuing an injunction restraining future hiring or
tenure decisions for faculty members at the institution without the
court's determination that a particular hiring or tenure decision
does not violate Subsection (b).
Sec. 51.982. ABORTION INSTRUCTION PROHIBITED. (a) In this
section:
(1) "Abortion" has the meaning assigned by Section
245.002, Health and Safety Code.
(2) "Abortion-inducing drug" has the meaning assigned
by Section 171.061, Health and Safety Code.
(3) "Institution of higher education" has the meaning
assigned by Section 61.003.
(b) An institution of higher education may not provide
instruction on the performance of an abortion, including the
administration of abortion-inducing drugs, or allow or assist
another person to provide such instruction.
Sec. 51.983. RESTRICTION ON PARTICIPATION IN CERTAIN
LITIGATION. (a) In this section, "institution of higher
education" has the meaning assigned by Section 61.003.
(b) An institution of higher education, including any law
school of the institution or legal clinic sponsored by or
affiliated with the institution, may not participate in or assist
with any litigation or other legal effort that seeks to:
(1) prevent the enforcement of any law related to:
(A) abortion;
(B) the definition of marriage;
(C) religious freedom;
(D) immigration; or
(E) capital punishment; or
(2) prevent or delay the execution of a sentence of
death imposed on a person convicted of capital murder.
SECTION 3. Section 51.982, Education Code, as added by this
Act, applies beginning with the 2021-2022 academic year.
SECTION 4. Section 51.983, Education Code, as added by this
Act, applies to litigation filed or pending on or after the
effective date of this Act, regardless of whether the cause of
action accrued before, on, or after the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 5. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
section, this Act takes effect September 1, 2021.
(b) Section 51.982, Education Code, as added by this Act,
takes effect immediately if this Act 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, Section 51.982, Education
Code, as added by this Act, takes effect September 1, 2021.