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.