1-1  By:  Nixon, Montford                                  S.B. No. 1511
    1-2        (In the Senate - Filed March 13, 1995; March 22, 1995, read
    1-3  first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
    1-4  April 11, 1995, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 13,
    1-5  Nays 0; April 11, 1995, sent to printer.)
    1-6                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-7                                AN ACT
    1-8  relating to the acceptance of gifts by state agencies.
    1-9        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-10        SECTION 1.  Subtitle B, Title 5, Government Code, is amended
   1-11  by adding Chapter 575 to read as follows:
   1-12           CHAPTER 575.  ACCEPTANCE OF GIFT BY STATE AGENCY
   1-13        Sec. 575.001.  DEFINITIONS.  In this chapter:
   1-14              (1)  "Gift" includes a donation of money or property.
   1-15              (2)  "State agency" means a board, commission, council,
   1-16  committee, department, office, agency, or other governmental entity
   1-17  in the executive or judicial branch of state government.  The term
   1-18  does not include an institution of higher education as defined by
   1-19  Section 61.003, Education Code.
   1-20        Sec. 575.002.  ACCEPTANCE OF GIFT BY STATE AGENCY GOVERNING
   1-21  BOARD.  A state agency that has a governing board may accept a gift
   1-22  only if the agency has the authority to accept the gift and a
   1-23  majority of the board, in an open meeting, approves accepting the
   1-24  gift.
   1-25        Sec. 575.003.  RECORD OF GIFT.  A state agency that accepts a
   1-26  gift must record the name of the donor, a description of the gift,
   1-27  and a statement of the purpose of the gift in:
   1-28              (1)  the minutes of the governing board of the agency;
   1-29  or
   1-30              (2)  appropriate agency records, if the agency does not
   1-31  have a governing board.
   1-32        Sec. 575.004.  ACCEPTANCE OF GIFT FROM PARTY TO CONTESTED
   1-33  CASE PROHIBITED.  A state agency may not accept a gift from a
   1-34  person who is a party to a contested case before the agency until
   1-35  the 30th day after the date the decision in the case becomes final
   1-36  under Section 2001.144.  In this section, "contested case" has the
   1-37  meaning assigned by Section 2001.003.
   1-38        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-39  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-40  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-41  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-42  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   1-43  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   1-44  passage, and it is so enacted.
   1-45                               * * * * *