Enrolled Bill Summary

            The Texas Legislature in 1997 established the TexShare library consortium, administered by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, for cooperative library resource sharing among academic libraries at public senior colleges and universities, junior colleges, and private institutions of higher education. House Bill 1433 amends the Government Code to authorize an expansion of consortium membership to include public libraries. The commission may phase in the expansion only to the extent that appropriations are available to efficiently do so without a reduction of services to the academic libraries. The act enlarges the TexShare advisory board from 9 to 11 members to include at least two public library representatives. It clarifies that the consortium is exempt from normal General Services Commission purchasing procedures.