By: Pitts (Senate Sponsor - Hegar) H.B. No. 2610
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 6, 2013;
May 8, 2013, read first time and referred to Committee on
Education; May 14, 2013, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 9, Nays 0; May 14, 2013, sent to printer.)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the issuance of interest-bearing time warrants and
certain notes by school districts.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 45.103, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a) and (c) and adding Subsection (a-1) to
read as follows:
(a) Any school district in need of funds to construct,
repair, or renovate school buildings, purchase school buildings and
school equipment, or equip school properties with necessary
heating, water, sanitation, lunchroom, or electric facilities or in
need of funds with which to employ a person who has special skill
and experience to compile taxation data and that is financially
unable out of available funds to construct, repair, renovate, or
purchase school buildings, purchase school equipment, or equip
school properties with necessary heating, water, sanitation,
lunchroom, or electric facilities or is unable to pay the person for
compiling taxation data, may, subject to this section, issue
interest-bearing time warrants, in amounts sufficient to
construct, purchase, equip, or improve school buildings and
facilities or to pay all or part of the compensation of the person
to compile taxation data, any law to the contrary notwithstanding.
The warrants shall mature in serial installments of not more than 15
[five] years from their date of issue. The warrants on maturity may
be payable out of any available funds of the school district in the
order of their maturity dates. Any interest-bearing time warrants
may be issued and sold by the district for not less than their face
value, and the proceeds used to provide funds required for the
purpose for which they are issued. The warrants shall be entitled
to first payment out of any available funds of the district as they
become due. Included in the purposes for which interest-bearing
time warrants may be issued is the payment of any amounts owed by
the school district that was incurred in carrying out any of those
purposes.
(a-1) A school district may also issue interest-bearing
time warrants to refund warrants previously issued under this
section if the refunding warrants are coterminous with the refunded
obligations.
(c) A school district may not issue interest-bearing time
warrants in excess of five percent of the assessed valuation of the
district for the year in which the warrants are issued. The payment
of interest-bearing time warrants in any one year may not exceed the
anticipated surplus income of the district for the year in which the
warrants are issued, based on the budget of the district for that
year. The anticipated income computed under this section is
exclusive of all bond taxes. A school district may not have
outstanding at any one time warrants totaling in excess of $1
million [$500,000] under this section.
SECTION 2. Section 45.108(a), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) Independent or consolidated school districts may borrow
money for the purpose of paying maintenance expenses and may
evidence those loans with negotiable or nonnegotiable notes, except
that the loans may not at any time exceed 75 percent of the previous
year's income. The notes may be payable from and secured by a lien
on and pledge of any available funds of the district, including
proceeds of a maintenance tax. The term "maintenance expenses" or
"maintenance expenditures" as used in this section means any lawful
expenditure of the school district other than payment of principal
of and interest on bonds. The term includes expenditures relating
to notes issued to refund notes previously issued under this
section if the refunding notes are coterminous with the refunded
obligation. The term also includes all costs incurred in
connection with environmental cleanup and asbestos cleanup and
removal programs implemented by school districts or in connection
with the maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, or replacement of
heating, air conditioning, water, sanitation, roofing, flooring,
electric, or other building systems of existing school properties.
Notes issued pursuant to this section may be issued to mature in not
more than 20 years from their date. Notes issued for a term longer
than one year must be treated as "debt" as defined in Section
26.012(7), Tax Code.
SECTION 3. Section 1202.007(a), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) The following are exempt from the approval and
registration requirements of this chapter:
(1) a public security that is:
(A) not subject to mandatory renewal or renewal
at the option of any person, including the issuer, a holder, or a
bearer; and
(B) payable only out of:
(i) current revenues or taxes collected in
the year the public security is issued; or
(ii) the proceeds of other public
securities;
(2) a certificate in evidence of benefit assessments;
(3) a certificate of obligation, including a claim or
account that represents an undivided interest in a certificate of
obligation, that under Subchapter C, Chapter 271, Local Government
Code, an issuer is authorized to deliver to a contractor;
(4) a time warrant issued under Chapter 252 or 262,
Local Government Code;
(5) a public security authorized by Chapter 1371;
(6) a lease, lease-purchase, or installment sale
obligation, except as provided by other law; [and]
(7) a public security that by rule the attorney
general exempts because it is not practical to require approval
before the public security's issuance; and
(8) a nonnegotiable note issued under Section 45.108,
Education Code, in a principal amount that does not exceed $1
million.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.
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