Texline 149 - Hearing and Bill Update

TLA TEXLINE NO. 149
Posted: March 17, 2003
LEGISLATIVE ISSUES NETWORK

Hearing and Bill Update

Hearings Set

HB 854 (West), which relates to the eligibility of public schools and libraries for certain funds, will be heard before the House Regulated Industries on March 18. The bill requires the creation and implementation of Internet use policies in schools and libraries in order for those institutions to be eligible for TIF grants.
HB 1770 (Keel), which relates to the circumstances in which municipal consent is required for the creation of a library district, will be heard on March 18 in the House State Cultural and Recreational Resources Committee.

New Bills

The filing deadline for bills was March 14. The following bills were filed late last week.

HB 2763 (Garza). Relating to the Texas public library endowment fund. The bill basically gives the Texas State Library and Archives Commission permission to use money in the endowment fund for TexShare. At this time, there is no funding in endowment fund.
HB 2769 (Chisum). Relating to changing the composition of certain state agency governing bodies to ensure that commissions have an odd number of members. The bill would decrease the size of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission from six commissioners to five. Companion to SB 287 (Ellis).
SB 1049 (Wentworth). Relating to the creation and taxes for a library district. Companion bill to HB 1770.
SB 1154 (Shapleigh). Relating to state publication maintained by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
SB 1401 (Fraser). Relating to the abolition of the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund Board and transfer of all duties and powers related to the administration of the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund (TIF) to the comptroller of public accounts. The bill also redefines the TIF as a "trust fund within the state treasury with the comptroller in trust." The fund and current interest would be held as a corpus which could not be "diverted, distributed, or appropriated for any purpose other than as provided by" the statute. Ongoing interest from the fund would be used to fund public schools and eligible entities, as defined in TIF's enabling legislation.

BACK to TEXLINE INDEX

TLA-Texline is an irregular publication of the Texas Library Association mailed directly to members interested in legislative and governmental issues affecting libraries. To subscribe--or to offer comments or suggestions-- contact Gloria Meraz, Director of Communications, Texas Library Association. Previous issues of Texline are archived on the TLA website.