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By:  Hochberg                                                     H.B. No. 349



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to a credits program for the purchase of textbooks and 
related materials by a school district or open-enrollment charter 
school.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 31.1011, Education Code, is amended to 
read as follows:  
	(a)  A [The commissioner shall implement a program to study 
the use of credits for textbooks.  The program shall be designed to 
allow a participating] school district or open-enrollment charter 
school shall [to] receive credit for textbooks purchased at a cost 
below the cost limit established under Section 31.025(a).
	(b)  The credit is an amount equal to the difference between 
the price paid for a textbook and the cost limit established under 
Section 31.025(a) for that textbook multiplied by the number of 
copies of that textbook the [participating] school district or 
open-enrollment charter school purchases.
	(c)  Fifty percent of the total textbook credit of a 
[participating] school district or open-enrollment charter school 
shall be credited to the state textbook fund, and 50 percent of the 
credit shall be credited to the [participating] textbooks or 
electronic textbooks or technological equipment for instructional 
use in the classroom as defined in Section 31.002(4)(a) [on the 
conforming or nonconforming list].
	(d)  The commissioner shall prepare a report relating to the 
use of the textbook credit system and deliver the report to the 81st 
[79th] Legislature.  This subsection expires September 1, 2009.
	[(e)  This section expires September 1, 2005.]                
	SECTION 2.  This act applies beginning with the 2005-2006 
school year.       
	SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives 
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as 
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this 
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this 
Act takes effect September 1, 2005.