81R32572 CAS-D
By: Shapleigh S.B. No. 205
Substitute the following for S.B. No. 205:
By: Howard of Travis C.S.S.B. No. 205
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the Texas Partnership for Children in Nature.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subtitle D, Title 4, Government Code, is amended
by adding Chapter 450 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 450. TEXAS PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDREN IN NATURE
SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS
Sec. 450.001. DEFINITION. In this chapter, "partnership"
means the Texas Partnership for Children in Nature.
Sec. 450.002. SUNSET PROVISION. The Texas Partnership for
Children in Nature is subject to Chapter 325 (Texas Sunset Act).
Unless continued in existence as provided by that chapter, the
partnership is abolished and this chapter expires September 1,
2021.
Sec. 450.003. COMPOSITION OF PARTNERSHIP. The partnership
is composed of seven members as follows:
(1) three public members as follows, appointed by the
governor in consultation with the executive director of the Parks
and Wildlife Department and the commissioner of education:
(A) one public member who represents
parent-teacher organizations; and
(B) two public members each of whom represents a
nonprofit organization dedicated to education concerning or
protection of the environment; and
(2) four ex officio members as follows:
(A) the executive director of the Parks and
Wildlife Department;
(B) the commissioner of education;
(C) the commissioner of state health services;
and
(D) the commissioner of agriculture.
Sec. 450.004. PUBLIC MEMBERS: ELIGIBILITY; APPOINTMENT;
VACANCY. (a) A person appointed as a public member of the
partnership must be a resident of this state.
(b) Appointments of public members to the partnership shall
be made:
(1) without regard to the race, color, disability,
sex, religion, age, or national origin of an appointee; and
(2) so that various geographic areas of this state are
represented in the partnership.
(c) The governor, in consultation with the executive
director of the Parks and Wildlife Department and the commissioner
of education, shall fill any vacancy in an appointed position in the
partnership for the unexpired portion of the term.
Sec. 450.005. EX OFFICIO MEMBERS: ELIGIBILITY; DESIGNATION
OF REPRESENTATIVE. (a) An ex officio member of the partnership
vacates the person's position in the partnership if the person
ceases to hold the position that qualifies the person for service in
the partnership.
(b) An ex officio member may designate a representative to
serve in the partnership in the member's place. A representative
designated under this subsection must be an officer or employee of
the state agency that employs the ex officio member or of which the
ex officio member is an officer.
Sec. 450.006. REMOVAL OF PUBLIC MEMBER. (a) It is a ground
for removal of a public member from the partnership if the member:
(1) is ineligible for public membership under Section
450.004(a);
(2) cannot because of illness or disability discharge
the member's duties for a substantial part of the term for which the
member is appointed; or
(3) is absent from more than two consecutive
partnership meetings that the member is eligible to attend during a
calendar year unless the absence is excused by majority vote of the
members of the partnership.
(b) The validity of an action of the partnership is not
affected by the fact that the action is taken when a ground for
removal of a partnership member exists.
(c) If a member of the partnership has knowledge that a
potential ground for removal exists, the member shall notify the
presiding officer of the partnership of the potential ground. The
presiding officer shall then notify the governor and the attorney
general that a potential ground for removal exists.
Sec. 450.007. TERM OF PUBLIC MEMBER. (a) A public member
of the partnership serves a term of four years.
(b) A public member is eligible for reappointment to another
term or part of a term.
(c) A public member may not serve more than two consecutive
terms. For purposes of this prohibition, a member is considered to
have served a term only if the member has served more than half of
the term.
Sec. 450.008. OFFICERS; WORKING GROUPS. (a) The executive
director of the Parks and Wildlife Department or the executive
director's representative serves as the presiding officer of the
partnership.
(b) The presiding officer of the partnership may appoint one
or more working groups for any purpose consistent with the duties of
the partnership under this chapter.
Sec. 450.009. COMPENSATION; EXPENSES. (a) A public member
of the partnership is not entitled to compensation but is entitled
to reimbursement for the travel expenses incurred by the member
while transacting partnership business, as provided by the General
Appropriations Act.
(b) An ex officio member's service in the partnership is an
additional duty of the underlying position that qualifies the
member for service in the partnership. The entitlement of an ex
officio member to compensation or to reimbursement for travel
expenses incurred while transacting partnership business is
governed by the law that applies to the member's service in that
underlying position, and any payment to the member for either
purpose must be made from money that may be used for the purpose and
is available to the state agency that the member serves in that
underlying position.
Sec. 450.010. MEETINGS; VOTING; PUBLIC ACCESS. (a) The
partnership shall meet at the call of the presiding officer.
(b) An ex officio member of the partnership may vote on
partnership business.
(c) The partnership shall develop and implement policies
that provide the public with a reasonable opportunity to appear
before the partnership and speak on any issue under the
jurisdiction of the partnership.
Sec. 450.011. STAFF COORDINATION. (a) The Parks and
Wildlife Department shall provide staff support to the partnership,
in coordination with the Texas Education Agency, the Department of
State Health Services, and the Department of Agriculture.
(b) This section does not require the Parks and Wildlife
Department to reallocate staff or funding to the detriment of other
programs.
[Sections 450.012-450.050 reserved for expansion]
SUBCHAPTER B. POWERS AND DUTIES; FUNDING
Sec. 450.051. ADVISORY STATUS OF PARTNERSHIP. (a) In
implementing its powers and duties under this chapter, the
partnership functions only in an advisory capacity. Membership in
the partnership does not constitute a public office.
(b) Chapter 2110 does not apply to the partnership.
Sec. 450.052. GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES OF PARTNERSHIP.
(a) The partnership shall promote the well-being of this state's
children by providing children with opportunities to spend more
time outdoors and to learn about the environment through
experiential activities outdoors and formal and informal education
concerning the environment. To accomplish those purposes, the
partnership shall:
(1) develop and assist in the implementation of a plan
to provide children with structured and unstructured opportunities
for outdoor recreation, scientific study, and learning that
includes:
(A) development and implementation of strategies
to provide increased support for programs under which school
grounds are converted into natural habitats for play and outdoor
classrooms;
(B) establishment of trail systems that connect
communities, parks, and schools to encourage walking, biking, and
increased time outdoors by children and their families;
(C) establishment of nature play areas in
communities to offer outdoor experiences close to children's homes;
(D) establishment, in partnership with the
Department of Family and Protective Services, the advisory council
on juvenile services, and appropriate community nonprofit
organizations, of a statewide civic justice corps to provide
students at risk of dropping out of school with opportunities to
serve on conservation crews in state parks and on other public land;
(E) establishment, in cooperation with school
districts, local parks departments, and appropriate nonprofit
organizations, of an outdoor classroom program on public land that
provides service learning opportunities and voluntary programming
aligned with the required curriculum under Section 28.002,
Education Code;
(F) provision to children and their families of
increased access to naturalists who present interpretive
activities at state parks and on other public land to enhance
discovery and enjoyment of this state's natural resources; and
(G) provision to children who are members of
minority groups of increased access to state parks and other public
land, through partnership with appropriate organizations;
(2) develop and assist in the implementation of a
state environmental literacy plan that includes:
(A) a review of current environmental education
in public schools, including student environmental literacy
levels;
(B) identification of curriculum necessary to
develop environmentally literate students;
(C) identification of model outdoor field and
service learning experiences that can be integrated into the
required curriculum under Section 28.002, Education Code;
(D) professional development opportunities for
professional educators and for students who are in educator
preparation programs and development programs for other
environmental educators; and
(E) methods to annually measure and report, at
the state and local levels, progress of public school students
toward becoming environmentally literate;
(3) devise a method to measure:
(A) baseline data concerning the amount of time
children spend outdoors; and
(B) any increased time children spend outdoors as
a result of the partnership's efforts; and
(4) identify opportunities for and barriers to
implementing environmental literacy programs in public schools and
on public land.
(b) Not later than December 1 of each even-numbered year,
the partnership shall submit a report to the governor, the
lieutenant governor, the speaker of the house of representatives,
and the presiding officer of each legislative standing committee
with primary jurisdiction over primary and secondary education,
natural resources, land and resource management, or environmental
regulation regarding the partnership's recommendations concerning
the partnership's duties under Subsection (a).
(c) The partnership shall adopt rules as necessary for its
own procedures.
Sec. 450.053. FUNDING. The partnership may accept gifts
and grants from a public or private source for the partnership to
use in performing the partnership's powers and duties under this
chapter.
SECTION 2. As soon as practicable after the effective date
of this Act, appointments of public members shall be made to the
Texas Partnership for Children in Nature as provided by Chapter
450, Government Code, as added by this Act. Notwithstanding
Section 450.007, Government Code, as added by this Act, the terms of
initial public members appointed to the Texas Partnership for
Children in Nature expire February 1, 2013.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.