By: Cuellar, H. H.B. No. 41
73R531 JRD-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the establishment of the Texas Academy of Foreign
1-3 Languages and Culture.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Chapter 11, Education Code, is amended by adding
1-6 Subchapter H to read as follows:
1-7 SUBCHAPTER H. TEXAS ACADEMY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND CULTURE
1-8 Sec. 11.921. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
1-9 (1) "Academy" means the Texas Academy of Foreign
1-10 Languages and Culture.
1-11 (2) "Agency" means the Central Education Agency.
1-12 (3) "Director" means the director of the academy.
1-13 Sec. 11.922. ACADEMY. (a) The academy is established in
1-14 the agency.
1-15 (b) The agency shall employ a director and other personnel
1-16 necessary to administer this subchapter.
1-17 (c) The agency may adopt rules to administer this
1-18 subchapter.
1-19 (d) The agency may receive appropriations and may receive
1-20 gifts and grants to implement this subchapter.
1-21 (e) The purpose of the academy is to:
1-22 (1) advance the study of foreign languages and
1-23 cultures in Texas; and
1-24 (2) advance educational and cultural exchange between
2-1 Texas and current and prospective trade partners.
2-2 Sec. 11.923. CONTRACTS. (a) The academy shall accomplish
2-3 its purposes through contracts with a National Endowment for the
2-4 Humanities grant recipient for this state under 20 U.S.C. Sec. 956.
2-5 The academy shall contract with a grant recipient to provide on
2-6 behalf of the academy:
2-7 (1) scholarships to selected college and university
2-8 juniors and seniors who are majoring in a foreign language and who
2-9 intend to pursue teaching careers;
2-10 (2) financial support to selected institutions and
2-11 organizations for cultural exchange programs between Texas and its
2-12 current and prospective trade partners that include photographic
2-13 exhibitions, film and video documentary programs, print resources,
2-14 conferences, and literary projects;
2-15 (3) financial support to selected teachers and
2-16 scholars to conduct lectures and research projects in key foreign
2-17 countries and to cover reasonable and necessary domestic expenses
2-18 of teachers and scholars of other nations qualified to lecture and
2-19 conduct research in Texas;
2-20 (4) financial support to selected colleges and
2-21 universities to host summer programs of three to four weeks in
2-22 duration in foreign language and culture studies, including the
2-23 study of key international issues, designed to improve the
2-24 knowledge and skills of foreign language teachers;
2-25 (5) financial support to selected colleges and
2-26 universities to sponsor programs of one or two weeks in duration
2-27 for interested high school students who have had at least two
3-1 successful years of foreign language study; and
3-2 (6) financial support to selected institutions that
3-3 will provide, for a profit, intensive foreign language instruction
3-4 to owners and representatives of businesses and to professionals in
3-5 this state who are doing or planning to do business with current
3-6 and prospective trade partners and who will pay for the
3-7 instruction.
3-8 (b) A contract with a grant recipient under Subsection (a)
3-9 of this section must provide that:
3-10 (1) the grant recipient shall award scholarships and
3-11 financial aid that uses academy money to persons and entities based
3-12 on a competitive program established by the grant recipient;
3-13 (2) the grant recipient shall establish controls
3-14 designed to ensure that persons and entities who receive
3-15 scholarships or financial support use the money for the intended
3-16 purpose;
3-17 (3) the grant recipient shall make regular reports to
3-18 the director on its expenditures under the contract, including the
3-19 identity of persons and entities chosen by the grant recipient to
3-20 receive scholarships or financial support under the contract, and
3-21 on other information related to the contract that may be required
3-22 by the director; and
3-23 (4) the transactions of the grant recipient under the
3-24 contract are subject to audit by the state auditor in accordance
3-25 with Chapter 321, Government Code.
3-26 (c) The grant recipient may also accomplish the purposes of
3-27 the subject matter of a contract under this section with money that
4-1 is not received under the contract, to the extent allowed under
4-2 this subchapter and federal law.
4-3 Sec. 11.924. COORDINATION. The academy shall establish an
4-4 interagency task force on international studies and cultural
4-5 exchange, coordinated by the academy, to develop long-range goals
4-6 designed to enhance foreign language and international studies and
4-7 to expand educational and cultural exchange. In addition to other
4-8 persons chosen for the task force by the academy, the academy shall
4-9 invite the governor, the commissioner of education, the
4-10 commissioner of higher education, the executive director of the
4-11 Texas Department of Commerce, and the executive director of the
4-12 Texas Committee for the Humanities to serve on the task force or to
4-13 designate a representative to serve on the task force.
4-14 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
4-15 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-16 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-17 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-18 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-19 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-20 passage, and it is so enacted.