81R11732 JRJ-F
By: Gutierrez H.B. No. 3429
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to certain program and reporting duties of the Texas
Agricultural Extension Service.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 88, Education Code, is amended by adding
Subchapter C-1 to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER C-1. TEXAS AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICE
Sec. 88.251. DEFINITION. In this chapter, "extension
service" means the Texas Agricultural Extension Service.
Sec. 88.252. PROGRAMS AND PROGRAM REPORTS. (a) The
extension service shall administer the following programs:
(1) the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program
(EFNEP), which provides nutrition education for economically
disadvantaged families;
(2) the Better Living for Texans (BLT) program, a
component of the United States Department of Agriculture's
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides
education programs to food stamp recipients, applicants, and other
approved audiences to help improve their ability to plan and
prepare nutritious meals, spend food dollars efficiently, and
prepare and store food safely; and
(3) other similar programs as determined by the
extension service.
(b) Not later than December 15 of each even-numbered year,
the extension service shall make a presentation and provide a
report regarding each program administered under Subsection (a) to
the commissioner of education, the commissioner of agriculture, and
the commissioner of the Department of State Health Services, and to
any council in which representatives from all three agencies headed
by those officers are members. The extension service shall provide
a copy of each report required by this subsection to the
legislature.
Sec. 88.253. CONTRACTS. The extension service may enter
into interagency contracts and agreements and may contract with
local, state, county, federal, and private entities to advance the
objectives of the programs administered under Section 88.252.
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, 2009.