By:  Culberson                                         H.J.R. No. 8
       73R1567 CAE-F
                                  A JOINT RESOLUTION
    1-1  proposing a constitutional amendment releasing a school district
    1-2  from the obligation to comply with an unfunded state educational
    1-3  mandate.
    1-4        BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Article VII of the Texas Constitution is amended
    1-6  by adding Section 3-c to read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 3-c.  (a)  A school district is exempt from a state
    1-8  educational mandate for which the legislature has not appropriated
    1-9  funds estimated to be sufficient to meet the expenditure required
   1-10  by the mandate at the time the mandate is effective unless the
   1-11  legislature has determined that the mandate fulfills an important
   1-12  state interest and:
   1-13              (1)  the mandate passed by a two-thirds vote in each
   1-14  house of the legislature;
   1-15              (2)  the expenditure is required to comply with a law
   1-16  that applies to all persons similarly situated, including entities
   1-17  other than a school district; or
   1-18              (3)  the mandate is necessary either to comply with
   1-19  federal law or to meet eligibility standards for a federal
   1-20  entitlement, and the federal law specifically contemplates action
   1-21  by a district for compliance or eligibility.
   1-22        (b)  In this section, "state educational mandate" means a
   1-23  statutory provision the implementation of which requires an
   1-24  expenditure by a school district that would not have been required
    2-1  in the absence of the statutory provision and rules adopted under
    2-2  that provision.
    2-3        SECTION 2.  This proposed constitutional amendment shall be
    2-4  submitted to the voters at an election to be held November 2, 1993.
    2-5  The ballot shall be printed to provide for voting for or against
    2-6  the proposition:  "The constitutional amendment providing relief
    2-7  from ad valorem taxes by releasing a school district from the
    2-8  obligation to comply with an unfunded state educational mandate."