84R12104 CAE-D
By: Taylor of Collin S.B. No. 1497
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a requirement that a school district, open-enrollment
charter school, or shared services arrangement terminate or refuse
to hire an employee or applicant convicted of certain offenses.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 22.085(a) and (d), Education Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) A school district, open-enrollment charter school, or
shared services arrangement shall discharge or refuse to hire an
employee or applicant for employment if the district, school, or
shared services arrangement obtains information through a criminal
history record information review that[:
[(1)] the employee or applicant has been convicted of:
(1) [(A)] a felony offense [under Title 5, Penal
Code];
(2) [(B)] an offense on conviction of which a
defendant is required to register as a sex offender under Chapter
62, Code of Criminal Procedure; [or]
(3) [(C)] an offense under the laws of another state
or federal law that is equivalent to an offense under Subdivision
(1) or (2) [Paragraph (A) or (B)]; or
(4) a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude [and
[(2) at the time the offense occurred, the victim of
the offense described by Subdivision (1) was under 18 years of age
or was enrolled in a public school].
(d) [A school district, open-enrollment charter school,
private school, regional education service center, or shared
services arrangement may discharge an employee if the district or
school obtains information of the employee's conviction of a felony
or of a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude that the employee did
not disclose to the State Board for Educator Certification or the
district, school, service center, or shared services arrangement.]
An employee discharged under this section is considered to have
been discharged for misconduct for purposes of Section 207.044,
Labor Code.
SECTION 2. Section 22.085(b), Education Code, is repealed.
SECTION 3. 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.