By:  Counts                                           H.B. No. 1133
       73R4538 LJD-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the issuance of bonds by certain entities in lieu of a
    1-3  state issuing authority.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  DEFINITIONS.  In this Act:
    1-6              (1)  "Issuer" has the meaning assigned by Section 1,
    1-7  Bond Procedures Act of 1981 (Article 717k-6, Vernon's Texas Civil
    1-8  Statutes), and its subsequent amendments.
    1-9              (2)  "State issuing authority" means the Texas Public
   1-10  Finance Authority, its successors, and any other state agency
   1-11  authorized to issue bonds on behalf of an issuer.
   1-12        SECTION 2.  ISSUANCE OF BONDS.  Notwithstanding any statute
   1-13  requiring a state issuing authority to issue bonds on behalf of an
   1-14  issuer, the issuer on its own behalf may issue bonds if:
   1-15              (1)  the issuer has statutory authority to finance the
   1-16  undertaking for which the bonds are issued; and
   1-17              (2)  the governing body of the issuer conclusively
   1-18  finds that issuance by the issuer will:
   1-19                    (A)  result in lower costs to the issuer and the
   1-20  state than issuance by the state issuing authority; or
   1-21                    (B)  provide the issuer a more advantageous
   1-22  opportunity to access the public debt markets than issuance by the
   1-23  state issuing authority.
   1-24        SECTION 3.  BOND REVIEW BOARD APPROVAL.  Bonds issued by an
    2-1  issuer under this Act are subject to the approval of the bond
    2-2  review board before their sale.
    2-3        SECTION 4.  EXCEPTION.  This Act does not apply to bonds
    2-4  required by the state constitution to be issued by a state issuing
    2-5  authority on behalf of an issuer.
    2-6        SECTION 5.  EMERGENCY.  The importance of this legislation
    2-7  and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-8  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-9  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-10  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-11  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-12  passage, and it is so enacted.