1-1     By:  Lewis of Tarrant, et al. (Senate Sponsor-Ogden)   H.B. No. 889
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 26, 1999;
 1-3     April 27, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
 1-4     Education; May 6, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:
 1-5     Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 6, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to establishing an institute for the preservation of
 1-9     history and culture at Prairie View A&M University.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 87, Education Code, is
1-12     amended by adding Section 87.106 to read as follows:
1-13           Sec. 87.106.  INSTITUTE FOR PRESERVATION OF HISTORY AND
1-14     CULTURE.  (a)  The board of regents of The Texas A&M University
1-15     System shall establish at Prairie View A&M University an institute
1-16     for the preservation of Texas and American history and culture.
1-17           (b)  The organization, control, and management of the
1-18     institute is vested in the board of regents.
1-19           (c)  The employment of personnel by and the operating budget
1-20     of the institute are subject to the approval of the board of
1-21     regents.  An employee of the institute is an employee of Prairie
1-22     View A&M University.
1-23           (d)  The mission of the institute is to collect, preserve,
1-24     study, and make available for research information, records,
1-25     documents, artifacts, and other items relating to Texas history and
1-26     culture and to the history and culture of the United States and the
1-27     Americas as that history and culture relates to Texas.  The
1-28     institute shall give special emphasis to collecting, preserving,
1-29     and studying information and items relating to the role and
1-30     contributions of African Americans to Texas history and culture,
1-31     including:
1-32                 (1)  the history of African-American education in
1-33     Texas;
1-34                 (2)  the contributions of African Americans to military
1-35     history; and
1-36                 (3)  the role and contributions of African Americans in
1-37     the settlement, development, and culture of Texas, including in the
1-38     areas of government, agriculture, science and industry, labor and
1-39     demography, business, nursing and medicine, public health,
1-40     architecture and engineering, the professions, sports, and the
1-41     arts.
1-42           (e)  Consistent with its mission, the institute may:
1-43                 (1)  establish and operate a museum, archives,
1-44     automated systems for data access and retrieval, or similar
1-45     facilities; and
1-46                 (2)  operate educational and awareness programs,
1-47     particularly for students in public education.
1-48           (f)  The board of regents or the university may solicit and
1-49     accept gifts and grants from a public or private source for the
1-50     benefit of the institute.
1-51           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-52     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-53     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-54     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-55     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-56     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-57     passage, and it is so enacted.
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