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.