By Garcia                                              H.B. No. 839
         76R342 CAS-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the public school ethics curriculum committee.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  (a)  The public school ethics curriculum
 1-5     committee is established.
 1-6           (b)  Not later than January 1, 2000:
 1-7                 (1)  the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the
 1-8     speaker of the house of representatives shall each appoint three
 1-9     members to the committee; and
1-10                 (2)  the comptroller, the chair of the State Board of
1-11     Education, and the chair of the governing board of the Texas Youth
1-12     Commission shall each appoint one member to the committee.
1-13           (c)  Each member appointed to the committee must have
1-14     experience in public school teaching, curriculum development, or
1-15     administration or a background in the study of ethics.
1-16           (d)  The committee shall develop an ethics curriculum for use
1-17     in grades one through seven in public schools.  The curriculum must
1-18     address fundamental values on which most citizens of the state can
1-19     agree, including respect for the law and the responsibilities and
1-20     rights of citizenship.  The curriculum may not address religious
1-21     matters.
1-22           (e)  In developing the curriculum, the committee must hold at
1-23     least three public hearings.  Each public hearing shall be held in
1-24     a different region of the state.
 2-1           (f)  The staff of the Texas Education Agency may serve as
 2-2     staff for the committee.  Sections 2110.003 and 2110.004(a),
 2-3     Government Code, apply to the committee.
 2-4           (g)  Not later than January 1, 2001, the committee shall
 2-5     present to the legislature recommendations on a public school
 2-6     ethics curriculum.
 2-7           (h)  The committee is abolished January 31, 2001.
 2-8           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-9     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-10     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-11     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-12     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-13     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-14     passage, and it is so enacted.