By: Seliger S.B. No. 1900
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the abolition of the Texas cultural endowment fund.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsections (a), (b), and (i), Section 444.025,
Government Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) The commission may accept on behalf of the state
donations of money, property, and art objects as it determines best
further the orderly development of the artistic resources of the
state. Money [Except as provided by Subsection (b), money] paid to
the commission under this chapter shall be deposited in the Texas
Commission on the Arts operating [cultural endowment] fund.
(b) The commission may solicit donations from an
appropriate source. [A person may designate a donation as intended
for the Texas cultural endowment fund or the Texas Commission on the
Arts operating fund. If the person designates that a donation is
intended for a specific fund, the donation shall be deposited in the
designated fund.]
(i) All money paid to the commission under this chapter[,
other than money required to be deposited in the Texas cultural
endowment fund,] is subject to Subchapter F, Chapter 404.
SECTION 2. Subsection (c), Section 444.032, Government
Code, is amended to read as follows:
(c) All proceeds from the sale of compact discs under the
project shall be deposited in the Texas Commission on the Arts
operating [cultural endowment] fund under Section 444.027
[444.026].
SECTION 3. Sections 444.026 and 444.028, Government Code,
are repealed.
SECTION 4. (a) Before December 1, 2009, the Texas
Commission on the Arts, in consultation with interested
stakeholders, shall review donor restrictions on donations to the
Texas cultural endowment fund to determine if the donations may be
transferred to the Texas Commission on the Arts operating fund.
(b) On December 1, 2009:
(1) the Texas cultural endowment fund is abolished;
(2) the money, including any interest or income earned
before December 1, 2009, in the Texas cultural endowment fund that
is not subject to donor restrictions prohibiting the transfer is
transferred to the Texas Commission on the Arts operating fund; and
(3) the money, including any interest or income earned
before December 1, 2009, in the Texas cultural endowment fund that
is subject to donor restrictions prohibiting a transfer to the
Texas Commission on the Arts operating fund is returned to the
donor.
(c) Money transferred under Subdivision (2), Subsection (b)
of this section may not be used to reduce or eliminate
appropriations made for the fiscal biennium beginning September 1,
2009, to the Texas Commission on the Arts.
SECTION 5. 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.