| 1 | 1 | | 89R16110 CS-D |
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| 2 | 2 | | By: Bhojani H.B. No. 4444 |
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| 3 | 3 | | |
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| 4 | 4 | | |
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| 5 | 5 | | |
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| 6 | 6 | | |
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| 7 | 7 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
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| 8 | 8 | | AN ACT |
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| 9 | 9 | | relating to the authority of a public library to provide |
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| 10 | 10 | | multilingual resources for emerging communities. |
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| 11 | 11 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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| 12 | 12 | | SECTION 1. Subtitle C, Title 10, Local Government Code, is |
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| 13 | 13 | | amended by adding Chapter 338 to read as follows: |
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| 14 | 14 | | CHAPTER 338. LIBRARIES |
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| 15 | 15 | | Sec. 338.001. MULTILINGUAL RESOURCES. (a) In this |
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| 16 | 16 | | section: |
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| 17 | 17 | | (1) "Emerging community" means a group of people who |
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| 18 | 18 | | share a common ethnicity and have a positive population growth rate |
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| 19 | 19 | | in a county. |
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| 20 | 20 | | (2) "Population growth rate" means the rate of |
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| 21 | 21 | | population growth between the last two federal decennial censuses. |
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| 22 | 22 | | (b) A public library may use any money available to the |
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| 23 | 23 | | library, including state money, to provide multilingual library |
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| 24 | 24 | | services and resources for the three fastest growing, non-English- |
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| 25 | 25 | | or Spanish-speaking, emerging communities in the county in which |
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| 26 | 26 | | the library is located. |
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| 27 | 27 | | (c) A public library that provides multilingual library |
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| 28 | 28 | | services and resources under this section may: |
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| 29 | 29 | | (1) provide easily accessible online or digital |
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| 30 | 30 | | multilingual library services and resources; and |
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| 31 | 31 | | (2) implement a plan to communicate the availability |
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| 32 | 32 | | of multilingual library services and resources to the relevant |
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| 33 | 33 | | emerging communities. |
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| 34 | 34 | | SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives |
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| 35 | 35 | | a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as |
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| 36 | 36 | | provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this |
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| 37 | 37 | | Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this |
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| 38 | 38 | | Act takes effect September 1, 2025. |
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