S.B. No. 826
AN ACT
1-1 relating to authorizing school districts to acquire, use, and
1-2 purchase real property.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 271.002, Local Government Code, is
1-5 amended to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 271.002. PURPOSE. (a) The legislature finds that the
1-7 purchase or other acquisition or the use of <personal> property by
1-8 governmental agencies and the financing of those activities are
1-9 necessary to the efficient and economic operation of government.
1-10 (b) This subchapter promotes a public purpose by furnishing
1-11 governmental agencies with a feasible means to purchase or
1-12 otherwise acquire, use, and finance public <personal> property.
1-13 SECTION 2. Section 271.003, Local Government Code, is
1-14 amended by amending Subdivision (2) and by adding Subdivisions (10)
1-15 and (11) to read as follows:
1-16 (2) "Contract" means an agreement entered into under
1-17 this subchapter but does not mean a contract solely for the
1-18 construction of improvements to real property.
1-19 (10) "Improvement" means a permanent building,
1-20 structure, fixture, or fence that is erected on or affixed to land
1-21 but does not include a transportable building or structure whether
1-22 or not it is affixed to land.
1-23 (11) "Real property" means land, improvement, or an
2-1 estate or interest in real property, other than a mortgage or deed
2-2 of trust creating a lien on property or an interest securing
2-3 payment or performance of an obligation in real property.
2-4 SECTION 3. Section 271.004, Local Government Code, is
2-5 amended to read as follows:
2-6 Sec. 271.004. REAL PROPERTY AND IMPROVEMENTS FOR SCHOOL
2-7 DISTRICTS <NOT COVERED>. (a) The board of trustees of a school
2-8 district may execute, perform, and make payments under a contract
2-9 under this Act for the use or purchase or other acquisition of real
2-10 property or an improvement to real property. If the board proposes
2-11 to enter into such a contract, the board shall publish notice of
2-12 intent to enter into the contract not less than 60 days before the
2-13 date set to approve execution of the contract in a newspaper with
2-14 general circulation in the district. The notice must summarize the
2-15 major provisions of the proposed contract. The notice shall
2-16 estimate the construction and other costs, but the board shall not
2-17 publish the first advertisement for bids for construction of
2-18 improvements until 60 days has expired from the publication of the
2-19 notice of intent to enter into the contract.
2-20 (b) If, within 60 days of the date of publication of the
2-21 notice of intent required by Subsection (a), a written petition
2-22 signed by at least five percent of the registered voters of the
2-23 district is filed with the board of trustees requesting that the
2-24 board order a referendum on the question of whether the contract
2-25 should be approved, the board may not approve the contract or
3-1 publish the first advertisement for bids for construction of
3-2 improvements unless the question is approved by a majority of the
3-3 votes received in a referendum ordered and held on the question.
3-4 (c) Except as otherwise provided by this section, the
3-5 referendum shall be held in accordance with the applicable
3-6 provisions of the Election Code. The requirement that an election
3-7 must be held on a uniform election date as prescribed by the
3-8 Election Code does not apply to an election held under this
3-9 section.
3-10 (d) The contract is a special obligation of the school
3-11 district if ad valorem taxes are not pledged to the payment of the
3-12 contract.
3-13 (e) If the contract provides that payments by the school
3-14 district are to be made from maintenance taxes previously approved
3-15 by the voters of the school district and are subject to annual
3-16 appropriation or are paid from a source other than ad valorem
3-17 taxes, the payments under the contract shall not be considered
3-18 payment of indebtedness under Section 26.04(c), Tax Code.
3-19 (f) All or part of the obligation of the school district may
3-20 be evidenced by one or more negotiable promissory notes.
3-21 (g) A lease-purchase contract entered into by the district
3-22 under this section and the records relating to its execution must
3-23 be submitted to the attorney general for examination as to their
3-24 validity.
3-25 (h) If the attorney general finds that the contract has been
4-1 authorized in accordance with the law, the attorney general shall
4-2 approve them, and the comptroller of public accounts shall register
4-3 the contract.
4-4 (i) Following approval and registration, the contract is
4-5 incontestable and is a binding obligation according to its terms.
4-6 <This subchapter does not apply to a contract solely for the
4-7 construction of improvements to real property.>
4-8 SECTION 4. Subsection (c), Section 20.48, Education Code, is
4-9 amended to read as follows:
4-10 (c) Local school funds from district taxes, tuition fees of
4-11 pupils not entitled to free tuition and other local sources may be
4-12 used for the purposes enumerated for state and county funds and for
4-13 purchasing appliances and supplies, for the payment of insurance
4-14 premiums, janitors and other employees, for buying school sites,
4-15 buying, building and repairing and renting school houses, including
4-16 acquisition of school houses and sites by leasing same through
4-17 annual payments with an ultimate option to purchase, and for other
4-18 purposes necessary in the conduct of the public schools to be
4-19 determined by the board of trustees, the accounts and vouchers for
4-20 county districts to be approved by the county superintendent;
4-21 provided, that when the state available school fund in any city or
4-22 district is sufficient to maintain the schools thereof in any year
4-23 for at least eight months, and leave a surplus, such surplus may be
4-24 expended for the purposes mentioned herein.
4-25 SECTION 5. Subsection (d), Section 4.041, Public Facility
5-1 Corporation Act (Article 717s, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is
5-2 repealed.
5-3 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
5-4 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-5 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-6 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-7 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
5-8 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
5-9 passage, and it is so enacted.