By:  Gallegos                                          S.B. No. 823
         Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
         Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to contracts for the replacement or repair of equipment or
 1-2     a part of a school facility.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 44.031, Education Code, is amended by
 1-5     amending Subsection (h) to read as follows:
 1-6           (h)  If school equipment or a part of a school facility is
 1-7     destroyed or severely damaged or, as a result of an unforseen
 1-8     catastrophe or emergency, undergoes major operational or structural
 1-9     failure, and the board of trustees determines that the delay posed
1-10     by the methods provided for in this section [competitive bidding
1-11     process] would prevent or substantially impair the conduct of
1-12     classes or other essential school activities, then contracts for
1-13     the replacement or repair of the equipment or the part of the
1-14     school facility may be made by methods other than those [without
1-15     competitive bidding as otherwise] required by this section.
1-16           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-17           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-18     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-19     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-20     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-21     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.