By Coleman H.B. No. 2687
76R6884 ESH-F
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
2-13 lawful expenditure of the school district other than payment of
2-14 principal of and interest on bonds. The term] includes all costs
2-15 incurred in connection with environmental cleanup and asbestos
2-16 cleanup and removal programs implemented by school districts or in
2-17 connection with the maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, or
2-18 replacement of heating, air conditioning, water, sanitation,
2-19 roofing, flooring, electric, or other building systems of existing
2-20 school properties. Notes issued pursuant to this section [an
2-21 environmental cleanup and asbestos cleanup and removal program] may
2-22 be issued to mature in not more than 20 [15] years from their date.
2-23 Notes issued for a term longer than one year must be treated as
2-24 "debt" as defined in 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 271.005, Local Government Code, is
3-7 amended by adding Subsection (b) to read as follows:
3-8 (b) The governing body of a governmental agency may contract
3-9 under this section for materials and labor incident to the
3-10 installation of personal property.
3-11 SECTION 4. Section 271.007(b), Local Government Code, is
3-12 amended to read as follows:
3-13 (b) After the contract has been approved and registered as
3-14 provided by this section, the contract is valid and is
3-15 incontestable for any cause. The legal obligation of the lessor,
3-16 vendor, or supplier of personal property or of the person
3-17 installing personal property to the governmental agency is not
3-18 diminished in any respect by the approval and registration of the
3-19 contract.
3-20 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
3-21 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-22 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-23 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-24 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-25 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-26 passage, and it is so enacted.