By Jackson                                            S.B. No. 1671
         77R3554 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, Education Code, is amended by
 1-6     amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (d) to read as
 1-7     follows:
 1-8           (a)  The governing board of an independent school district,
 1-9     including the city council or commission that has jurisdiction over
1-10     a municipally controlled independent school district, the governing
1-11     board of a rural high school district, and the commissioners court
1-12     of a county, on behalf of each common school district under its
1-13     jurisdiction, may:
1-14                 (1)  issue [negotiable coupon] bonds for:
1-15                       (A)  the construction, acquisition, and equipment
1-16     of school buildings in the district;
1-17                       (B)  the acquisition of property or the
1-18     refinancing of property financed under a contract entered under
1-19     Subchapter A, Chapter 271, Local Government Code, regardless of
1-20     whether payment obligations under the contract are due in the
1-21     current year or a future year; [and]
1-22                       (C)  the purchase of the necessary sites for
1-23     school buildings; and
1-24                       (D)  the purchase of new school buses; and
 2-1                 (2)  may levy, pledge, assess, and collect annual ad
 2-2     valorem taxes sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on
 2-3     the bonds as the principal and interest become due, subject to
 2-4     Section 45.003.
 2-5           (d)  School buses purchased with the proceeds of bonds issued
 2-6     under Subsection (a)(1)(D) must be fueled by:
 2-7                 (1)  clean diesel fuel, as determined under federal law
 2-8     or regulation; or
 2-9                 (2)  natural gas.
2-10           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
2-11     a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
2-12     provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
2-13     Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
2-14     Act takes effect September 1, 2001.