By:  Ellis                                            S.B. No. 1519

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

                                       AN ACT

 1-1     relating to the authority of the Texas Workforce Commission to

 1-2     accept donations.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 301.021, Labor Code, is amended to read

 1-5     as follows:

 1-6           Sec. 301.021.  DONATIONS.  (a)  The commission may accept a

 1-7     donation of services, money, or property [from an organization

 1-8     listed in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986

 1-9     (26 U.S.C. Section 501(c)(3))] that the commission determines

1-10     furthers the lawful objectives of the commission.  The donation

1-11     must be accepted in an open meeting by a majority of the voting

1-12     members of the commission and must be reported in the public

1-13     records of the commission with the name of the donor and the

1-14     purpose of the donation.

1-15           (b)  The commission may not accept a donation from a person

1-16     who is a party to an administrative proceeding pending before the

1-17     commission until the 30th day after the date the commission's final

1-18     order is issued.  The commission may not accept a donation from a

1-19     person who is a party to a suit in which the commission is also a

1-20     party.

1-21           (c)  The commission may not accept a donation from a

1-22     for-profit entity that has a contract with the commission or has

1-23     submitted a bid in response to a pending request for proposal

 2-1     issued by the commission for services or products having a value of

 2-2     not less than $50,000.  This subsection does not apply to a

 2-3     contract or bid that relates only to providing child-care services.

 2-4           (d)  A for-profit entity may not enter into a contract with

 2-5     the commission or submit a bid in response to a request for

 2-6     proposal issued by the commission before the first anniversary of

 2-7     the date of making a donation to the commission unless the contract

 2-8     or bid relates only to providing child-care services.

 2-9           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and

2-10     applies only to a donation made to the Texas Workforce Commission

2-11     on or after that date.

2-12           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-13     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-14     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-15     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-16     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.