By Wilson                                       H.B. No. 3296

      75R9363 DAK-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the equitable purchase of services by state agencies

 1-3     from various ethnic groups.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 403, Government Code, is

 1-6     amended by adding Section 403.026 to read as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 403.026. ANALYSIS OF STATE TAXES PAID BY VARIOUS ETHNIC

 1-8     GROUPS.  (a)  The comptroller shall conduct a comprehensive

 1-9     analysis of state taxes  paid annually by the residents of this

1-10     state to determine the relative amount of state taxes paid by

1-11     groups of individuals classified by ethnicity, including Caucasian,

1-12     Hispanic, Asian, and African-American.

1-13           (b)  The comptroller shall periodically update the analysis.

1-14           SECTION 2.  Subchapter B, Chapter 2155, Government Code, is

1-15     amended by adding Section 2155.074 to read as follows:

1-16           Sec. 2155.074.  EQUITABLE PURCHASING OF SERVICES FROM VARIOUS

1-17     ETHNIC GROUPS.  The commission shall adopt rules for governing the

1-18     issuing of contracts by state agencies for services, including

1-19     services under Chapter 2254, to ensure that the relative amount  of

1-20     services purchased from groups of individuals classified by

1-21     ethnicity, including Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian, and

1-22     African-American, equitably corresponds to the relative amount of

1-23     state taxes paid by those individuals according to the analysis

1-24     conducted by the comptroller under Section 403.026.

 2-1           SECTION 3.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

 2-2           (b)  The comptroller shall conduct the analysis required by

 2-3     Section 403.026, Government Code, as added by this Act, for the

 2-4     year ending August 31, 1997, and complete that analysis on or

 2-5     before December 31, 1997.

 2-6           (c)  The General Services Commission shall adopt the rules

 2-7     required by Section 2155.074, Government Code, as added by this

 2-8     Act, in a timely enough manner so that those rules apply to any

 2-9     services purchased by a state agency on or after September 1, 1998.

2-10           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-11     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-12     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-13     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-14     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.