By: Uresti, Hinojosa S.B. No. 966
      Zaffirini
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to high school diplomas for certain military veterans.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subsection (a), Section 28.0251, Education Code,
  is amended to read as follows:
         (a)  Notwithstanding any other provision of this code, a
  school district may issue a high school diploma to a person who:
               (1)  is an honorably discharged member of the armed
  forces of the United States;
               (2)  was scheduled to graduate from high school:
                     (A)  after 1940 and before 1975; or
                     (B)  after 1989; and
               (3)  left [high] school after completing the sixth or a
  higher grade, before graduating from high school, [graduation] to
  serve in:
                     (A)  World War II, the Korean War, [or] the
  Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, the Iraq War, or the war in
  Afghanistan; or
                     (B)  any other war formally declared by the United
  States, military engagement authorized by the United States
  Congress, military engagement authorized by a United Nations
  Security Council resolution and funded by the United States
  Congress, or conflict authorized by the president of the United
  States under the War Powers Resolution of 1973 (50 U.S.C. Section
  1541 et seq.).
         SECTION 2.  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, 2011.