By Barrientos S.B. No. 948
76R7663 T
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to establishment, funding, and administration of the Texas
1-3 Public Library Fund.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Chapter 441, Government Code, is amended by the
1-6 addition of new Sections 441.135, 441.136, 441.137, and Sec.
1-7 441.138, and renumbering existing Section 441.135 to Section
1-8 441.139, and renumbering subsequent sections, in sequence, to read
1-9 as follows:
1-10 Sec. 441.135. TEXAS PUBLIC LIBRARY ENDOWMENT. (a) The
1-11 Texas public library endowment is a trust fund outside the state
1-12 treasury.
1-13 (b) The legislature may not appropriate money in the
1-14 endowment.
1-15 (c) Interest and income earned on or after September 1,
1-16 1999, on money deposited in the endowment shall be deposited to the
1-17 credit of the endowment fund and then transferred by the Texas
1-18 State Library and Archives Commission on September 1 of each year
1-19 to the Public Library Fund. Although it is not required to do so,
1-20 the commission may elect to return a portion of the interest and
1-21 earnings to the corpus of the endowment fund.
1-22 (d) This section is exempt from the application of Sections
1-23 403.095, and 404.071.
1-24 Sec. 441.136. TEXAS PUBLIC LIBRARY FUND. (a) The Texas
2-1 Public Library fund is a special fund in the state treasury.
2-2 (b) Money deposited to the credit of the Texas Public
2-3 Library Fund is hereby appropriated only to carry out the
2-4 commission's powers and duties concerning public library
2-5 development under this chapter and for necessary administrative
2-6 costs incurred by the commission under Sections 441.135, 441.136,
2-7 441.137, and 441.138.
2-8 (c) The fund is exempt from the application of Sections
2-9 403.095 and 404.071. Interest and income received from investments
2-10 of money in the Public Library Endowment shall be allocated monthly
2-11 by the comptroller to the Public Library Fund.
2-12 Sec. 441.137. ENDOWMENT INVESTMENT AND MANAGEMENT. (a) The
2-13 commission shall appoint investment managers for the management and
2-14 investment of the Texas Public Library Endowment by contracting for
2-15 professional investment management services with one or more
2-16 organizations that are in the business of managing investments.
2-17 (b) In choosing and contracting for professional investment
2-18 management services and in continuing the use of an investment
2-19 manager, the commission shall act prudently and in the interest of
2-20 the beneficiaries of the endowment fund.
2-21 (c) In making and supervising investments of the endowment
2-22 fund, an investment manager and the commission shall discharge
2-23 their respective duties solely in the interest of the beneficiaries
2-24 of the fund:
2-25 (1) for the exclusive purposes of providing benefits
2-26 for the beneficiaries of the fund and defraying reasonable expenses
2-27 of administering this chapter;
3-1 (2) with the care, skill, prudence, and diligence
3-2 under the prevailing circumstances that a prudent person acting in
3-3 a like capacity and familiar with matters of the type would use in
3-4 the conduct of an enterprise with a like character and like aims;
3-5 (3) by diversifying the investments of the fund to
3-6 minimize the risk of large losses, unless under the circumstances
3-7 it is clearly prudent not to do so; and
3-8 (4) in accordance with the documents and instruments
3-9 governing the fund to the extent that the documents and instruments
3-10 are consistent with this section.
3-11 (d) To be eligible for appointment under this section, an
3-12 investment manager must be:
3-13 (1) registered under the Investment Advisors Act of
3-14 1940 (15 U.S.C. Section 80b-1 et seq.);
3-15 (2) a bank as defined by that Act that has a trust
3-16 department; or
3-17 (3) an insurance company qualified to perform
3-18 investment services under the laws of more than one state.
3-19 (e) In a contract made under this section, the commission
3-20 shall specify any policies, requirements, or restrictions,
3-21 including criteria for determining the quality of investments and
3-22 for the use of standard rating services, that the commission adopts
3-23 for investments of the endowment.
3-24 (f) A member of the commission is not liable for the acts or
3-25 omissions of an investment manager appointed under Subsection (a).
3-26 A member of the commission is not permitted or obligated to invest
3-27 or otherwise to manage any asset of the fund subject to management
4-1 by the investment manager.
4-2 (g) An investment manager appointed under Subsection (a)
4-3 shall acknowledge in writing the manager's fiduciary
4-4 responsibilities to the endowment.
4-5 (h) The commission may at any time and shall frequently
4-6 monitor the investments made by each investment manager for the
4-7 endowment. The commission may contract for professional evaluation
4-8 services to fulfill this requirement.
4-9 (i) The commission shall enter into an investment custody
4-10 account agreement designating a bank or a depository trust company
4-11 to serve as custodian for all assets allocated to or generated
4-12 under a contract for professional investment management services.
4-13 (j) Under a custody account agreement, the commission shall
4-14 require the designated custodian to perform the duties and assume
4-15 the responsibilities for the endowment that are performed and
4-16 assumed, in the absence of a contract, by the custodian of the
4-17 endowment. The custodian shall furnish to the commission, annually
4-18 or more frequently if required by commission rule, a sworn
4-19 statement of the amount of the endowment assets in the custodian's
4-20 custody.
4-21 (k) For purposes of this section, the beneficiaries of the
4-22 Texas Public Library Fund are the persons who use public libraries,
4-23 public library facilities, and public library collections, and
4-24 public libraries that benefit from the performance of the
4-25 commission's powers and duties under this chapter.
4-26 Sec. 441.138. DONATIONS; APPROPRIATIONS; SALES REVENUE;
4-27 AUDIT. (a) The commission may accept on behalf of the state
5-1 donations of money, property, and securities as it determines best
5-2 further the orderly development of public library resources of the
5-3 state. Money paid to the commission under this Section shall be
5-4 deposited in the Texas Public Library Fund.
5-5 (b) The commission by rule shall establish an acquisition
5-6 policy for accepting donations of money, property, and securities.
5-7 (c) The legislature may make appropriations to the
5-8 commission to carry out the purposes of this chapter.
5-9 (d) The commission may purchase and resell such items as it
5-10 determines appropriate for the promotion of public libraries in
5-11 Texas, provided that the value of inventory, as determined by
5-12 generally accepted accounting principles, shall not exceed $50,000
5-13 at the end of any fiscal year. The net profits from those sales
5-14 shall be deposited in the Texas Public Library Fund.
5-15 (e) The financial transactions of the commission are subject
5-16 to audit by the state auditor in accordance with Chapter 321,
5-17 Government Code.
5-18 (f) The commission shall prepare annually a complete and
5-19 detailed written report accounting for all funds received and
5-20 dispersed by the commission during the preceding fiscal year. The
5-21 annual report must meet the reporting requirements applicable to
5-22 financial reporting provided in the General Appropriations Act.
5-23 (g) All money paid to the commission under this chapter,
5-24 other than money required to be deposited in the Texas Public
5-25 Library Endowment, is subject to Subchapter F, Chapter 404.
5-26 SECTION 2. Section 441.006, Government Code, is amended by
5-27 the addition of Subparagraphs (16), (17), (18), and (19) to
6-1 Subsection (a), to read as follows:
6-2 (16) adopt and implement rules governing the
6-3 allocation of the Texas Public Library Fund to public library
6-4 facilities construction projects, to procurement of books and other
6-5 collection development materials, and to actual and reasonable
6-6 general and administrative costs;
6-7 (17) establish by rule methods by which local
6-8 governments may compete for matching grants for public library
6-9 facilities construction projects;
6-10 (18) adopt and implement rules for allocation of
6-11 direct grants for books and other collection development materials,
6-12 according to a formula that allocates a base grant to each
6-13 participating Texas public library plus an amount that is
6-14 proportional to the size of the population served; and
6-15 (19) adopt and implement rules whereby, in order to
6-16 participate in the Texas Public Library Fund grant program, a
6-17 public library must maintain a level of local public library
6-18 funding equal to or greater than the average of that of the
6-19 previous three years.
6-20 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
6-21 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
6-22 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-23 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-24 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-25 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.