By Flores                                              H.B. No. 597
         76R2855 BDH-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to preference to Texas and United States products in
 1-3     purchasing by school districts and certain charter schools.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 44, Education Code, is
 1-6     amended by adding Section 44.042 to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 44.042.  PREFERENCE TO TEXAS AND UNITED STATES PRODUCTS.
 1-8     (a)  A school district or open-enrollment charter school that
 1-9     purchases goods, including agricultural products, shall give
1-10     preference to those produced or grown in this state if the cost to
1-11     the school district or school and quality are equal.
1-12           (b)  If goods, including agricultural products, produced or
1-13     grown in this state are not equal in cost and quality to other
1-14     products, the school district or school shall give preference to
1-15     goods produced or grown in other states of the United States over
1-16     foreign products if the cost to the school district or school and
1-17     quality are equal.
1-18           (c)  A school district or open-enrollment charter school that
1-19     purchases vegetation for landscaping purposes, including plants,
1-20     shall give preference to Texas vegetation native to the region if
1-21     the cost to the school district or school is not greater and the
1-22     quality is not inferior.
1-23           (d)  In this section, "agricultural products" includes
1-24     textiles and other similar products.
 2-1           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-2           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-3     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-4     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-5     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-6     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.