Governmental Tort Claims Act; limiting settlement awards for wrongful termination claims; providing for inclusion of certain damages. Effective date.

Updated the document title from 'FLOOR SUBSTITUTE' to 'ENGROSSED SENATE BILL' to reflect the bill's progression through the legislative process.

Replaced the footer 'Req. No. 3816' with 'SB2084 HFLR' and added a note indicating that bold face text denotes committee amendments.

The header was updated to reflect the 'Floor Substitute' status for the 2nd Session of the 60th Legislature (2026), replacing the generic 'Enrolled' title.

Page numbers and request numbers were inserted into the text, which is standard for floor substitute documents to track amendments.

The original signature lines for the Senate, House, and Governor were removed, as floor substitutes are typically signed by the presiding officers rather than awaiting final gubernatorial approval at this stage.

Added an explicit exemption stating that the settlement cap does not apply to written contracts for employees who are not defined as faculty members.

Added 'accrued unpaid wages or leave' to the list of damages excluded from the settlement cap calculation.

Changed the header from 'Engrossed Senate' to 'Enrolled Senate' and updated page numbering to reflect the final version ready for the Governor.

Added a descriptive subject line ('The Governmental Tort Claims Act') to the top of the first page.

The bill now explicitly excludes employees who are not faculty members, provided they are covered by a written contract.

The definition of 'Institution' was expanded to include the governing body of the institution, and the definition of 'Employee' was replaced with specific definitions for 'Faculty member' and 'Institution'.

The list of excluded items was clarified to specify that accrued unpaid wages or leave belong to the faculty member, not the institution.

The list of damages included in the two-year salary cap was expanded to explicitly include liquidated damages and any other monetary relief.