By Wohlgemuth H.B. No. 1126 76R5025 JSA-D A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-1 AN ACT 1-2 relating to exempting certain institutions offering religious 1-3 education from state regulation. 1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter G, Chapter 61, Education Code, is 1-6 amended by adding Section 61.3031 to read as follows: 1-7 Sec. 61.3031. EXEMPTION FOR CERTAIN RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS. 1-8 (a) An institution that meets the requirements of this section is 1-9 exempt from this subchapter and from any other regulation by an 1-10 agency or political subdivision of this state with respect to the 1-11 content or character of the educational programs of the 1-12 institution. 1-13 (b) To be exempt under this section, an institution must: 1-14 (1) be organized as or operated by a nonprofit 1-15 corporation under the Texas Non-Profit Corporation Act (Article 1-16 1396-1.01 et seq., Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes); 1-17 (2) be under the direction of a stewardship board or 1-18 corporate board of directors; 1-19 (3) offer degrees solely for the purpose of 1-20 ministerial and religious training; 1-21 (4) include in the institution's course catalog a 1-22 statement describing the religious training purpose or purposes of 1-23 the institution; and 1-24 (5) ensure that each course for which the institution 2-1 grants credit toward a degree has a religious purpose that is 2-2 described in the institution's course catalog. 2-3 (c) To be exempt under this section, an institution must be 2-4 operated as an independent institution or in conjunction with a 2-5 local organization whose primary purpose is to maintain and operate 2-6 a church, synagogue, temple, mosque, or other place of worship. 2-7 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the 2-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 2-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 2-10 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 2-11 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 2-12 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 2-13 passage, and it is so enacted.