S.B. No. 487
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the establishment of the Texas Academy of Foreign
1-2 Languages and Culture.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Chapter 61, Education Code, is amended by adding
1-5 Subchapter O to read as follows:
1-6 SUBCHAPTER O. TEXAS ACADEMY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND CULTURE
1-7 Sec. 61.781. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
1-8 (1) "Academy" means the Texas Academy of Foreign
1-9 Languages and Culture.
1-10 (2) "Director" means the director of the academy.
1-11 Sec. 61.782. ACADEMY. (a) The academy is established under
1-12 the board.
1-13 (b) The board may employ a director and other personnel
1-14 necessary to administer this subchapter. The salaries of personnel
1-15 employed by the board to administer this subchapter must be paid
1-16 out of gifts and grants, including federal grants, except that the
1-17 board may assign duties related to the academy to employees who are
1-18 compensated out of other sources of revenue if those employees are
1-19 employed by the board primarily for the purpose of performing
1-20 duties that are not related to the academy.
1-21 (c) The board may adopt rules to administer this subchapter.
1-22 (d) The board may receive gifts and grants to implement this
1-23 subchapter, except for gifts and grants offered by an office, a
1-24 department, or another agency of state government.
2-1 (e) The purpose of the academy is to:
2-2 (1) advance the study of foreign languages and/or
2-3 cultures in Texas; and
2-4 (2) advance educational and cultural exchange between
2-5 Texas and current and prospective trade partners.
2-6 Sec. 61.783. CONTRACTS. (a) The academy shall accomplish
2-7 its purposes through contracts with a National Endowment for the
2-8 Humanities grant recipient for this state under 20 U.S.C.
2-9 Section 956. The academy shall contract with a grant recipient to
2-10 provide on behalf of the academy:
2-11 (1) scholarships to selected college and university
2-12 juniors and seniors who are majoring in a foreign language and who
2-13 intend to pursue teaching careers;
2-14 (2) financial support to selected institutions and
2-15 organizations for cultural exchange programs between Texas and its
2-16 current and prospective trade partners that include photographic
2-17 exhibitions, film and video documentary programs, print resources,
2-18 conferences, and literary projects;
2-19 (3) financial support to selected teachers and
2-20 scholars to conduct lectures and research projects in key foreign
2-21 countries and to cover reasonable and necessary domestic expenses
2-22 of teachers and scholars of other nations qualified to lecture and
2-23 conduct research in Texas;
2-24 (4) financial support to selected colleges and
2-25 universities to host summer programs of three to four weeks in
2-26 duration in foreign language and culture studies, including the
2-27 study of key international issues, designed to improve the
3-1 knowledge and skills of foreign language teachers;
3-2 (5) financial support to selected colleges and
3-3 universities to sponsor programs of one or two weeks in duration
3-4 for interested high school students who have had at least two
3-5 successful years of foreign language study; and
3-6 (6) financial support to selected institutions that
3-7 will provide, for a fee, intensive foreign language instruction to
3-8 owners and representatives of businesses and to professionals in
3-9 this state who are doing or planning to do business with current
3-10 and prospective trade partners and who will pay for the
3-11 instruction.
3-12 (b) A contract with a grant recipient under Subsection (a)
3-13 of this section must provide that:
3-14 (1) the grant recipient shall award scholarships and
3-15 financial support that use academy money to persons and entities
3-16 based on a competitive program established by the grant recipient;
3-17 (2) the grant recipient shall establish controls
3-18 designed to ensure that persons and entities who receive
3-19 scholarships or financial support use the money for the intended
3-20 purpose;
3-21 (3) the grant recipient shall make regular reports to
3-22 the director on its expenditures under the contract, including the
3-23 identity of persons and entities chosen by the grant recipient to
3-24 receive scholarships or financial support under the contract, and
3-25 on other information related to the contract that may be required
3-26 by the director; and
3-27 (4) the transactions of the grant recipient under the
4-1 contract are subject to audit by the state auditor in accordance
4-2 with Chapter 321, Government Code.
4-3 (c) The grant recipient may also accomplish the purposes of
4-4 the subject matter of a contract under this section with money that
4-5 is not received under the contract, to the extent allowed under
4-6 this subchapter and federal law.
4-7 Sec. 61.784. COORDINATION. The board may establish an
4-8 interagency task force on international studies and cultural
4-9 exchange, coordinated by the academy, to develop long-range goals
4-10 designed to enhance foreign language and international studies and
4-11 to expand educational and cultural exchange. If the board
4-12 establishes the task force, then in addition to other persons
4-13 chosen for the task force by the academy, the academy shall invite
4-14 the governor, the commissioner of education, the commissioner of
4-15 higher education, the executive director of the Texas Department of
4-16 Commerce, and the executive director of the Texas Committee for the
4-17 Humanities to serve on the task force or to designate a
4-18 representative to serve on the task force. The academy also shall
4-19 invite the lieutenant governor to designate a member of the senate
4-20 to serve on the task force and shall invite the speaker of the
4-21 house of representatives to designate a member of the house of
4-22 representatives to serve on the task force.
4-23 SECTION 2. General revenue may not be appropriated for costs
4-24 related to the implementation of this Act, except to the extent
4-25 that employees who are employed by the Texas Higher Education
4-26 Coordinating Board primarily for the purpose of performing duties
4-27 that are not related to the Texas Academy of Foreign Languages and
5-1 Culture perform limited duties related to the academy to the extent
5-2 allowed by Subsection (b), Section 61.782, Education Code, as added
5-3 by this Act.
5-4 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
5-5 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-6 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-7 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-8 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
5-9 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
5-10 passage, and it is so enacted.