By Luna                                                S.B. No. 722
         76R5798 CAG-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the establishment of a high technology training program
 1-3     by the Texas State Technical College System.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter C, Chapter 135, Education Code, is
 1-6     amended by adding Section 135.61 to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 135.61.  HIGH TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PROGRAM.  (a) The
 1-8     board of regents of the Texas State Technical College System shall
 1-9     establish a high technology training program serving Bexar County
1-10     and designed to benefit the state by training a technologically
1-11     advanced workforce for the high technology industry, including
1-12     development of a workforce in areas related to the computer
1-13     manufacturing, software development, information service,
1-14     telecommunications, biotechnology, petroleum engineering, and
1-15     aerospace industries.
1-16           (b)  In establishing a program under this section, the board
1-17     shall enter into a joint participation agreement with any junior
1-18     college district providing services in the county in which the
1-19     program is located.
1-20           (c)  The legislature shall appropriate funds for the
1-21     administration of and instruction at a program established under
1-22     this section on the basis of a formula developed by the Texas
1-23     Higher Education Coordinating Board.
1-24           (d)  Not more than 50 percent of the cost of the
 2-1     construction, operation, or maintenance of a facility used for a
 2-2     program established under this section may come from state money
 2-3     appropriated for that purpose.
 2-4           (e)  The board may solicit, accept, and administer gifts and
 2-5     grants from any public or private source for the use and benefit of
 2-6     the program.
 2-7           (f)  A program established under this section is subject to
 2-8     the continuing supervision of the Texas Higher Education
 2-9     Coordinating Board under Chapter 61 and the rules of the
2-10     coordinating board adopted under Chapter 61.
2-11           SECTION 2.  Not later than December 1, 1999, the Texas Higher
2-12     Education Coordinating Board shall prepare a report examining the
2-13     initial implementation of Section 135.61, Education Code, as added
2-14     by this Act, including the actions taken by the coordinating board,
2-15     the Texas State Technical College System, and each junior college
2-16     district that has entered into a joint participation agreement with
2-17     the Texas State Technical College System under Section 135.61.
2-18           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-19     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-20     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-21     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-22     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-23     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-24     passage, and it is so enacted.