HBA-MPM H.B. 1952 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1952 By: Rangel Higher Education 7/19/1999 Enrolled BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE In Texas, public officials are prohibited from entering into a collective bargaining contract with a labor organization regarding the wages, hours, and conditions of employment of public employees. Section 617.005 of the Government Code preserves the right of individual public employees to present a grievance to their employer regarding such matters. Although attorney general opinions have interpreted grievance rights broadly, certain public institutions of higher education in recent years have denied nonrenewed or terminated full-time faculty members' grievance rights. This denial has occurred in all three sectors of public higher education: community colleges, public universities, and health-related institutions. H.B. 1952 establishes a full-time faculty member's right to present a grievance relating to nonrenewal or termination of employment to an administrative representative of an institution of higher education designated by the institution's governing board. 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. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter Z, Chapter 51, Education Code, by adding Section 51.960, as follows: Sec. 51.960. GRIEVANCE RIGHTS ON CERTAIN PERSONNEL ISSUES. (a) Defines "faculty member" as a person employed full-time by an institution of higher education as a member of the institution's faculty or staff, including professional librarians, whose duties include teaching, research, administration, or the performance of professional services. Provides that this term does not include a person holding faculty rank but who spends the majority of the person's time for the institution engaged in managerial or supervisory activities. Excludes the following persons from this definition: a chancellor, vice chancellor, president, vice president, provost, associate or assistant provost, dean, or associate or assistant dean. Defines "institution of higher education" with the meaning assigned in Section 61.003, Education Code, where the term means any public technical institute, public junior college, public senior college or university, medical or dental unit, or other agency of higher education defined in that section. (b) Provides that a faculty member at an institution of higher education has a right to present a grievance, in person, to a member of the institution's administration designated by the governing board of the institution regarding an issue related to the nonrenewal or termination of the faculty member's employment. (c) Prohibits an institution by contract, policy, or procedure, from restricting a faculty member's right to present a grievance under this section. Authorizes an institution to adopt a method for presenting, reviewing, and acting on a grievance filed under this section. SECTION 2. Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 3. Emergency clause.