85R9155 KKA-D
By: Swanson H.B. No. 1754
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the placement and use of video cameras in certain
self-contained classrooms or other settings providing special
education services.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 29.022, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a) and (b) and adding Subsection (a-1) to
read as follows:
(a) In order to promote student safety, on receipt of a
request by a parent, trustee, governing body member, or staff
member that complies with Subsection (a-1), a school district or
open-enrollment charter school shall provide equipment, including
a video camera, to the [each] school or schools in the district or
the [each] charter school campus or campuses specified in the
request and in which a student who receives special education
services in a self-contained classroom or other special education
setting is enrolled. Each school or campus that receives equipment
shall place, operate, and maintain one or more video cameras in each
self-contained classroom or other special education setting to
which the parent's child or the staff member is assigned, if the
request was made by a parent or a staff member, and in which a
majority of the students in regular attendance are:
(1) provided special education and related services;
and
(2) assigned to a self-contained classroom or other
special education setting for at least 50 percent of the
instructional day.
(a-1) For purposes of Subsection (a):
(1) a parent may request equipment only for classrooms
or special education settings described by Subsection (a) to which
the parent's child is assigned;
(2) a trustee or governing body member may request
equipment only with approval by the board of trustees or governing
body; and
(3) a staff member may request equipment only for
classrooms or special education settings described by Subsection
(a) to which the staff member is assigned and only with approval by
the board of trustees or governing body.
(b) A school or campus that places a video camera in a
classroom or other special education setting in accordance with
Subsection (a) shall operate and maintain the camera in the
classroom or setting, as long as the classroom or setting continues
to satisfy the requirements under Subsection (a), for the remainder
of the school year in which the school or campus received the
request. At the end of each school year, the school or campus must
notify the requestor that operation of the video camera will not
continue during the following school year unless the school or
campus receives a new request authorized under this section for
that school year.
SECTION 2. 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, 2017.