1-1     By:  Zaffirini                                        S.B. No. 1290
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 11, 1999; March 15, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Education; April 12, 1999,
 1-4     reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 5, Nays 0;
 1-5     April 12, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the requirements for the conveyance of an interest in
 1-9     real property from a political subdivision to an institution of
1-10     higher education.
1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12           SECTION 1.  Section 272.001, Local Government Code, is
1-13     amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (j) to
1-14     read as follows:
1-15           (a)  Except for the types of land and interests covered by
1-16     Subsection (b), (g), (h), [or] (i), or (j), and except as provided
1-17     by Section 253.008, before land owned by a political subdivision of
1-18     the state may be sold or exchanged for other land, notice to the
1-19     general public of the offer of the land for sale or exchange must
1-20     be published in a newspaper of general circulation in either the
1-21     county in which the land is located or, if there is no such
1-22     newspaper, in an adjoining county.  The notice must include a
1-23     description of the land, including its location, and the procedure
1-24     by which sealed bids to purchase the land or offers to exchange the
1-25     land may be submitted.  The notice must be published on two
1-26     separate dates and the sale or exchange may not be made until after
1-27     the 14th day after the date of the second publication.
1-28           (j)  A political subdivision may donate, exchange, convey,
1-29     sell, or lease land or an interest in real property to an
1-30     institution of higher education, as that term is defined by Section
1-31     61.003, Education Code, to promote a public purpose related to
1-32     higher education.  The political subdivision shall determine the
1-33     terms and conditions of the transaction so as to effectuate and
1-34     maintain the public purpose.  A political subdivision may donate,
1-35     exchange, convey, sell, or lease the land or interest for less than
1-36     its fair market value and without complying with the notice and
1-37     bidding requirements of Subsection (a).
1-38           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-39     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-40     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-41     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-42     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-43     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-44     passage, and it is so enacted.
1-45                                  * * * * *