1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to establishing an institute for the preservation of
 1-3     history and culture at Prairie View A&M University.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 87, Education Code, is
 1-6     amended by adding Section 87.106 to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 87.106.  INSTITUTE FOR PRESERVATION OF HISTORY AND
 1-8     CULTURE.  (a)  The board of regents of The Texas A&M University
 1-9     System shall establish at Prairie View A&M University an institute
1-10     for the preservation of Texas and American history and culture.
1-11           (b)  The organization, control, and management of the
1-12     institute is vested in the board of regents.
1-13           (c)  The employment of personnel by and the operating budget
1-14     of the institute are subject to the approval of the board of
1-15     regents.  An employee of the institute is an employee of Prairie
1-16     View A&M University.
1-17           (d)  The mission of the institute is to collect, preserve,
1-18     study, and make available for research information, records,
1-19     documents, artifacts, and other items relating to Texas history and
1-20     culture and to the history and culture of the United States and the
1-21     Americas as that history and culture relates to Texas.  The
1-22     institute shall give special emphasis to collecting, preserving,
1-23     and studying information and items relating to the role and
1-24     contributions of African Americans to Texas history and culture,
 2-1     including:
 2-2                 (1)  the history of African-American education in
 2-3     Texas;
 2-4                 (2)  the contributions of African Americans to military
 2-5     history; and
 2-6                 (3)  the role and contributions of African Americans in
 2-7     the settlement, development, and culture of Texas, including in the
 2-8     areas of government, agriculture, science and industry, labor and
 2-9     demography, business, nursing and medicine, public health,
2-10     architecture and engineering, the professions, sports, and the
2-11     arts.
2-12           (e)  Consistent with its mission, the institute may:
2-13                 (1)  establish and operate a museum, archives,
2-14     automated systems for data access and retrieval, or similar
2-15     facilities; and
2-16                 (2)  operate educational and awareness programs,
2-17     particularly for students in public education.
2-18           (f)  The board of regents or the university may solicit and
2-19     accept gifts and grants from a public or private source for the
2-20     benefit of the institute.
2-21           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-22     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-23     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-24     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-25     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-26     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-27     passage, and it is so enacted.
         _______________________________     _______________________________
             President of the Senate              Speaker of the House
               I certify that H.B. No. 889 was passed by the House on April
         23, 1999, by the following vote:  Yeas 141, Nays 0, 2 present, not
         voting.
                                             _______________________________
                                                 Chief Clerk of the House
               I certify that H.B. No. 889 was passed by the Senate on May
         17, 1999, by the following vote:  Yeas 30, Nays.
                                             _______________________________
                                                 Secretary of the Senate
         APPROVED:  _____________________
                            Date
                    _____________________
                          Governor