§ 101.109.Payment of Claims Against Certain Universities

The final section of the chapter, and it treats one class of institution differently.

A claim against a state-supported senior college or university is payable only by a direct legislative appropriation made to satisfy claims — unless insurance has been acquired as provided by this chapter, in which case the claimant is entitled to payment to the extent of the coverage as in other cases.

The default is a legislative appropriation, and that is a substantial limitation. A claimant with a final judgment against an uninsured public university has no source of payment until the Legislature appropriates for it — which requires a legislative session, a bill, and a decision to fund the claim.

Universities hold endowments, buildings, and revenue streams, and this section keeps a judgment creditor away from all of it.

Insurance is therefore the route that matters, and where coverage exists the claimant is paid like anyone else. That makes whether a particular institution carries coverage the practical question in these cases, even though the evidence section keeps it undiscoverable in the litigation.

Note the scope: senior colleges and universities. Junior college districts are excluded from the chapter entirely except as to motor vehicles under the school district provision, so the two provisions between them address the whole of public higher education in Texas.