SPECIAL SESSION ANNOUNCED

Governor Perry announced yesterday that he was calling a special session of the 79th Legislature to deal with education reform and property tax reduction. The special session will convene Tuesday, June 21.

NEW LIBRARY LAWS

The deadline has now passed for the Governor to veto any bills passed by the Legislature or any funding provision in the General Appropriations Act. All library bills were signed into law.

• SB 483 (Staples) becomes effective 9/1/05. This bill allows the Texas State Library and Archives Commission to negotiate database group purchasing agreements on behalf of willing school library programs. 
• HB 2473 (Delisi) becomes effective 9/1/05. The bill relates to certain state publications maintained by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
• SB 1205 by Sen. Frank Madla, which establishes the authority for local governments to create multi-jurisdictional library districts and imposes local sales tax and/or ad valorem taxes to support the library district, is now in effect.
• HB 423 by Rep. Dianne Delisi concerns the availability on state publications and becomes effective 9/1/05.

The Governor did veto some budget provisions (no funding going directly to libraries was affected). However, the Governor did veto all of the funding for the Texas Education Agency, thus creating the need for the Legislature to convene to address funding for the state’s schools. This action necessitates legislative action before the end of the fiscal year.