By Kitchen                                            H.B. No. 1488
         77R6463 ESH-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the issuance of bonds by school districts for the
 1-3     purchase of school buses.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1. Section 45.001(a), Education Code, is amended to
 1-6     read as follows:
 1-7           (a)  The governing board of an independent school district,
 1-8     including the city council or commission that has jurisdiction over
 1-9     a municipally controlled independent school district, the governing
1-10     board of a rural high school district, and the commissioners court
1-11     of a county, on behalf of each common school district under its
1-12     jurisdiction, may:
1-13                 (1)  issue [negotiable coupon] bonds for:
1-14                       (A)  the construction, acquisition, and equipment
1-15     of school buildings in the district;
1-16                       (B)  the acquisition of property or the
1-17     refinancing of property financed under a contract entered under
1-18     Subchapter A, Chapter 271, Local Government Code, regardless of
1-19     whether payment obligations under the contract are due in the
1-20     current year or a future year; [and]
1-21                       (C)  the purchase of the necessary sites for
1-22     school buildings; and
1-23                       (D)  the purchase of new school buses; and
1-24                 (2)  may levy, pledge, assess, and collect annual ad
 2-1     valorem taxes sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on
 2-2     the bonds as the principal and interest become due, subject to
 2-3     Section 45.003.
 2-4           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
 2-5     a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
 2-6     provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
 2-7     Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
 2-8     Act takes effect September 1, 2001.