HBA-SEP H.B. 1893 77(R) -BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1893 By: Bosse State Affairs 3/7/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Current law authorizes the governor who appoints a state officer to remove the officer with the consent of two-thirds of senate members present and, if the legislature is not in session, to call a special session of the senate for the purpose of removing the officer. The fact that a special session must be called to remove a board member during the interim presents a problem which was illustrated during the previous interim when a member of a state agency board was indicted by the federal government. For a time following the indictment of the board member, the member refused to stop attending board meetings. Although an agreement was eventually reached for the member to stop attending the meetings, the member could have insisted even after a conviction on attending while that conviction was under appeal. This might have caused the agency in question to lose federal funds. House Bill 1893 provides that the conviction of a governor-appointed state officer for any felony operates as an immediate removal or disqualification from any state board on which that officer serves. 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 1893 amends the Government Code to provide that the conviction of a governor-appointed state officer for any felony operates as an immediate removal or disqualification from any state board on which that officer serves. The bill requires the court rendering judgment in the case to include in the judgment an order removing the officer. If the removed officer appeals the judgment, the appeal supersedes the order of removal unless the court finds that it is in the public's best interest to suspend the removed officer pending the appeal. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.