76R10047 ESH-D
By Coleman H.B. No. 2687
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 2687:
By Hochberg C.S.H.B. No. 2687
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the financing of maintenance expenses by school
1-3 districts and of materials and labor incident to the installation
1-4 of personal property by school districts and other local
1-5 governments.
1-6 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-7 SECTION 1. Sections 45.104(a) and (c), Education Code, are
1-8 amended to read as follows:
1-9 (a) The board of trustees of any school district may pledge
1-10 its delinquent taxes levied for maintenance purposes for specific
1-11 past, current, and future school years as security for a loan, and
1-12 may evidence any such loan with negotiable notes, and the
1-13 delinquent taxes pledged shall be applied against the principal and
1-14 interest of the loan [as they are collected]. Negotiable notes
1-15 issued under this subsection must mature in not more than 20 years
1-16 from their date.
1-17 (c) Funds secured through loans secured by delinquent taxes
1-18 may be employed for any legal maintenance expenditure or purpose of
1-19 the school district, including all costs incurred in connection
1-20 with:
1-21 (1) environmental cleanup and asbestos removal
1-22 programs implemented by school districts; or
1-23 (2) maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, or
1-24 replacement of heating, air conditioning, water, sanitation,
2-1 roofing, flooring, electric, or other building systems of existing
2-2 school properties.
2-3 SECTION 2. Sections 45.108(a), (b), and (d), Education Code,
2-4 are amended to read as follows:
2-5 (a) Independent or consolidated school districts may borrow
2-6 money for the purpose of paying maintenance expenses and may
2-7 evidence those loans with negotiable notes, except that the loans
2-8 may not at any time exceed 75 percent of the previous year's
2-9 income. The notes may be payable from and secured by a lien on and
2-10 pledge of any available funds of the district, including proceeds
2-11 of a maintenance tax. The term "maintenance expenses" or
2-12 "maintenance expenditures" as used in this section means any lawful
2-13 expenditure of the school district other than payment of principal
2-14 of and interest on bonds. The term includes all costs incurred in
2-15 connection with environmental cleanup and asbestos cleanup and
2-16 removal programs implemented by school districts or in connection
2-17 with the maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, or replacement of
2-18 heating, air conditioning, water, sanitation, roofing, flooring,
2-19 electric, or other building systems of existing school properties.
2-20 Notes issued pursuant to this section [an environmental cleanup and
2-21 asbestos cleanup and removal program] may be issued to mature in
2-22 not more than 20 [15] years from their date. Notes issued for a
2-23 term longer than one year must be treated as "debt" as defined in
2-24 Section 26.012(7), Tax Code.
2-25 (b) Notes for a term of less than one year may be issued
2-26 under this section only after a budget has been adopted for the
2-27 current school year.
3-1 (d) A note issued under this section for a term of less than
3-2 one year may contain a certification that it is issued pursuant to
3-3 and in compliance with this section and pursuant to a resolution
3-4 adopted by the board of trustees. The certification is sufficient
3-5 evidence that the note is a valid obligation of the district.
3-6 SECTION 3. Section 271.003(8), Local Government Code, is
3-7 amended to read as follows:
3-8 (8) "Personal property" includes appliances,
3-9 equipment, facilities, and furnishings, or an interest in personal
3-10 property, whether movable or fixed, considered by the governing
3-11 body of the governmental agency to be necessary, useful, or
3-12 appropriate to one or more purposes of the governmental agency.
3-13 The term includes all materials and labor incident to the
3-14 installation of that personal property. The term does not include
3-15 real property.
3-16 SECTION 4. Section 271.005, Local Government Code, is
3-17 amended by adding Subsection (b) to read as follows:
3-18 (b) The governing body of a governmental agency may contract
3-19 under this section for materials and labor incident to the
3-20 installation of personal property.
3-21 SECTION 5. Section 271.007(b), Local Government Code, is
3-22 amended to read as follows:
3-23 (b) After the contract has been approved and registered as
3-24 provided by this section, the contract is valid and is
3-25 incontestable for any cause. The legal obligation of the lessor,
3-26 vendor, or supplier of personal property or of the person
3-27 installing personal property to the governmental agency is not
4-1 diminished in any respect by the approval and registration of the
4-2 contract.
4-3 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
4-4 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-5 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-6 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-7 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-8 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-9 passage, and it is so enacted.