Enrolled Bill Summary

            House Bill 597 amends the Education Code to require school districts to give preference to competitively priced and comparable Texas-produced, Texas-grown, or Texas-processed agricultural products, and then, if competitively priced and comparable Texas agricultural products are not available, to give preference to U.S. products over foreign imports of comparable price and quality. House Bill 597 also requires the Texas Education Agency to analyze school district purchases to determine the effectiveness of these provisions and report its findings every two years to the governor, lieutenant governor, and speaker of the house. The act allows school districts to receive assistance from and use resources of the Texas Department of Agriculture, including product availability information, and prohibits school districts from adopting purchasing specifications that unnecessarily exclude agricultural products produced, grown, or processed in Texas.