No. 1697 H.B.

relating to the use of gifts to fund technology workforce development grants and to the evaluation of the technology workforce development grant program.BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:SECTION 1. Section 51.856(b), Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

(b) For a state fiscal biennium, the amount appropriated from the undedicated portion of the general revenue fund under Subsection (a) may not be less than the sum of:
    (1) the amount of money deposited to the credit of the account during that biennium under Section 51.855; [and]
    (2) the market value of any in-kind contributions accepted by the consortium during that biennium under Section 51.855, as determined by the comptroller based on information provided to the comptroller by the consortium and verified by the coordinating board; and
    (3) the amount or value, as appropriate, of any gift, grant, or donation that the coordinating board determines was:
        (A) received by an eligible computer science institution, eligible engineering institution, or eligible private or independent engineering institution during that biennium for the purposes for which grants are awarded under Section 51.857(a); and
        (B) received from a source other than a participant in the consortium.

SECTION 2. Sections 51.860(a) and (c), Education Code, are amended to read as follows:

(a) To evaluate the effectiveness of the grant program under this subchapter, the coordinating board shall appoint an evaluation [advisory] committee consisting of:
    (1) higher education representatives; and
    (2) experts in the fields of engineering and computer science.
(c) The grant program evaluation committee is not subject to Chapter 2110, Government Code.

SECTION 3.

(a) The change in law made by this Act to Section 51.856(b), Education Code, applies only to an appropriation made for a period that occurs on or after the effective date of this Act.
(b) On the effective date of this Act, the members of the advisory committee established by Section 51.860, Education Code, serving on that date become members of the evaluation committee established by Section 51.860, Education Code, as amended by this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.H.B. No. 1697 was passed by the House on April 14, 2005, by a non-record vote.
H.B. No. 1697 was passed by the Senate on May 24, 2005, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.