83R6481 KKA-D
 
  By: Lavender H.B. No. 1053
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to a prohibition against use by certain school districts
  of state Foundation School Program money and local ad valorem tax
  revenue to fund certain lawsuits against the state.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 42, Education Code, is
  amended by adding Section 42.010 to read as follows:
         Sec. 42.010.  PROHIBITION AGAINST USE OF FUNDING TO SUE
  STATE. (a) A school district that receives state funding under the
  Foundation School Program may not use that funding or local ad
  valorem tax revenue to pay the costs of the district's
  participation in a lawsuit against the state alleging that the
  state is in violation of the state's obligations under Section 1,
  Article VII, Texas Constitution.
         (b)  The commissioner may require a school district
  participating in a lawsuit described by Subsection (a) to provide
  the commissioner with documentation considered sufficient by the
  commissioner to establish that the district is not in violation of
  Subsection (a).
         (c)  Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, the
  commissioner may withhold state funding to which a district is
  otherwise entitled under this chapter or Chapter 46 if the
  commissioner determines that the district is in violation of
  Subsection (a). Subject to the General Appropriations Act, the
  commissioner may use funding withheld under this subsection to pay
  costs incurred by the agency as a result of the lawsuit described by
  Subsection (a) in which the district is participating.
         SECTION 2.  Section 42.010, Education Code, as added by this
  Act, applies only to state funding provided to a school district
  under the Foundation School Program or local ad valorem tax revenue
  collected by a school district on or after the effective date of
  this Act.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.