By Sibley                                             S.B. No. 1596
         76R5899 KEL-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to authorizing the issuance of revenue bonds for the Texas
 1-3     State Technical College System.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 55, Education Code, is
 1-6     amended by adding Section 55.175 to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 55.175.  TEXAS STATE TECHNICAL COLLEGE SYSTEM.  (a)  In
 1-8     addition to the other authority granted by this subchapter, the
 1-9     board of regents of the Texas State Technical College System may
1-10     acquire, purchase, construct, improve, renovate, enlarge, or equip
1-11     property, buildings, structures, facilities, roads, or related
1-12     infrastructure for the Texas State Technical College System,
1-13     including the individual campuses of the system, to be financed by
1-14     the issuance of bonds in accordance with this subchapter, including
1-15     bonds issued in accordance with a systemwide revenue financing
1-16     program and secured as provided by that program in an aggregate
1-17     principal amount not to exceed $16.5 million.
1-18           (b)  The board may pledge irrevocably to the payment of those
1-19     bonds all or any part of the revenue funds of an institution,
1-20     branch, or entity of the Texas State Technical College System,
1-21     including student tuition charges required or authorized by law to
1-22     be imposed on students enrolled at an institution, branch, or
1-23     entity of the Texas State Technical College System.  The amount of
1-24     a pledge made under this subsection may not be reduced or abrogated
 2-1     while the bonds for which the pledge is made, or bonds issued to
 2-2     refund those bonds, are outstanding.
 2-3           (c)  If sufficient funds are not available to the board to
 2-4     meet its obligations under this section, the board may transfer
 2-5     funds among institutions, branches, and entities of the Texas State
 2-6     Technical College System to ensure the most equitable and efficient
 2-7     allocation of available resources for each institution, branch, or
 2-8     entity to carry out its constitutional and statutory duties and
 2-9     purposes.
2-10           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-11     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-12     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-13     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-14     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-15     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-16     passage, and it is so enacted.