84R10821 CAE-D
By: Nevárez H.B. No. 2564
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to prohibiting a publisher or manufacturer from requiring
a school district or open-enrollment charter school to place a
minimum order of instructional materials.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 31.151(a), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) A publisher or manufacturer of instructional materials:
(1) shall furnish any instructional material the
publisher or manufacturer offers in this state at a price that does
not exceed the lowest price at which the publisher offers that
instructional material for adoption or sale to any state, public
school, or school district in the United States;
(2) shall automatically reduce the price of
instructional material sold for use in a school district or
open-enrollment charter school to the extent that the price is
reduced elsewhere in the United States;
(3) shall provide any instructional material or
ancillary item free of charge in this state to the same extent that
the publisher or manufacturer provides the instructional material
or ancillary item free of charge to any state, public school, or
school district in the United States;
(4) shall guarantee that each copy of instructional
material sold in this state is at least equal in quality to copies
of that instructional material sold elsewhere in the United States
and is free from factual error;
(5) may not become associated or connected with,
directly or indirectly, any combination in restraint of trade in
instructional materials or enter into any understanding or
combination to control prices or restrict competition in the sale
of instructional materials for use in this state;
(6) shall deliver instructional materials to a
school district or open-enrollment charter school;
(7) shall, at the time an order for instructional
materials is acknowledged, provide to school districts or
open-enrollment charter schools an accurate shipping date for
instructional materials that are back-ordered;
(8) shall guarantee delivery of instructional
materials at least 10 business days before the opening day of school
of the year for which the instructional materials are ordered if the
instructional materials are ordered by a date specified in the
sales contract; [and]
(9) shall submit to the State Board of Education an
affidavit certifying any instructional material the publisher or
manufacturer offers in this state to be free of factual errors at
the time the publisher executes the contract required by Section
31.026; and
(10) may not require a school district or
open-enrollment charter school to place a minimum order of
instructional materials.
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, 2015.