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.