By Hochberg                                           H.B. No. 1242
         Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
         Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the state funding for school district debt service.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 42.303, Education Code, is amended to
 1-5     read:
 1-6           (a)  The district enrichment and facilities tax rate ("DTR")
 1-7     under Section 42.302 may not exceed $0.64 per $100 of valuation, or
 1-8     a greater amount for any year provided by appropriation, except as
 1-9     provided for in subsection (b).
1-10           (b)  The "DTR" may exceed the limit in subsection (a) for
1-11     taxes to pay debt service on bonds only, if:
1-12                 (1)  taxes to pay debt service on those bonds, or on
1-13     bonds for which those bonds are a refunding, were levied prior to
1-14     the 1997-1998 school year; and
1-15                 (2)  the DTR exceeds the limit by no more than the tax
1-16     rate that, for the current year, when added to state funds under
1-17     Section 42.302 attributable to the portion of the DTR that exceeds
1-18     the limit, raises an amount equal to that which would be raised to
1-19     pay the debt service on those bonds from the portion of the
1-20     district's tax rate that would exceed the limit if the DTR were
1-21     limited as otherwise provided in subsection (a); and
 2-1                 (3)  the debt service on those bonds is paid entirely
 2-2     from taxes raised from a tax rate within the DTR and from state
 2-3     funds under 42.302.
 2-4           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-5           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-6     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-7     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-8     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-9     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.