1-1     By:  Bivins                                           S.B. No. 1897
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed April 29, 1999; April 30, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Education; May 6, 1999,
 1-4     reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 7, Nays 0;
 1-5     May 6, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the issuance of bonds by certain private schools under
 1-9     the Higher Education Authority Act.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Subdivision (12), Section 53.02, Education Code,
1-12     is amended to read as follows:
1-13                 (12)  "Primary ["Accredited primary] or secondary
1-14     school" includes [means a primary or secondary school, including] a
1-15     preschool[, that is accredited by an accreditation body that is a
1-16     member of the Texas Private School Accreditation Commission].
1-17           SECTION 2.  Section 53.48, Education Code, is amended to read
1-18     as follows:
1-19           Sec. 53.48.  BONDS FOR [ACCREDITED] PRIMARY OR SECONDARY
1-20     SCHOOLS.  (a)  In the same manner that a corporation may issue
1-21     bonds under this chapter for an institution of higher education, a
1-22     corporation created under Section 53.35(b) may issue bonds to
1-23     finance or refinance educational facilities or housing facilities
1-24     to be used by a [an accredited] primary or secondary school that is
1-25     accredited by an accreditation body that is a member of the Texas
1-26     Private School Accreditation Commission.
1-27           (b)  In the same manner that a corporation may issue bonds
1-28     under this chapter for an institution of higher education, a
1-29     corporation created under Section 53.35(b) may issue bonds to
1-30     finance or refinance educational facilities or housing facilities
1-31     to be used by a primary or secondary school that is not accredited
1-32     if, on the date the bonds are issued:
1-33                 (1)  the school has provided educational services to
1-34     students for less than two years; or
1-35                 (2)  the school has not yet begun to provide
1-36     educational services to students.
1-37           (c)  A corporation created under Section 53.35(b) may issue
1-38     refunding bonds to refund bonds issued under Subsection (b) only
1-39     if, on the date the refunding bonds are issued, the school has
1-40     applied for or is accredited by an accreditation body that is a
1-41     member of the Texas Private School Accreditation Commission.
1-42           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-43     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-44     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-45     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-46     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-47     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-48     passage, and it is so enacted.
1-49                                  * * * * *