Bill Includes Ban on Music Firm Investments

A bill awaiting Texas Gov. George W. Bush’s signature would ban state agencies from investing in companies whose artists’ songs promote violence or degrade women. In a legislative maneuver that has made it all but veto-proof, the measure has been appended to the state’s 900-page budget bill. Because the bill is a rider, Bush doesn’t have the option of utilizing his line-item veto power. Under the bill, state agencies would be forbidden from buying stock in companies such as Seagram Co., which has rights to the lyrics of songs performed by such artists as Snoop Doggy Dogg and the late Tupac Shakur. All agencies would have to sell the stock or risk losing state funds. Universal Music Group, which Seagram owns, declined to comment. The Recording Industry Assn. of America said it intends to seek a ruling from the Texas attorney general on the measure’s constitutionality.