85R2406 SRS-F By: Cyrier H.B. No. 358 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT relating to excused absences from public school for the purpose of visiting a military recruitment center or military installation. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Section 25.087(b-2), Education Code, is amended to read as follows: (b-2) A school district may excuse a student from attending school to visit an institution of higher education accredited by a generally recognized accrediting organization or a military recruitment center or military installation for a branch of the armed services of the United States during the student's junior and senior years of high school for the purpose of determining the student's interest in attending the institution of higher education or enlisting in a branch of the armed services, provided that: (1) the district may not excuse for this purpose more than two days during the student's junior year and two days during the student's senior year; and (2) the district adopts: (A) a policy to determine when an absence will be excused for this purpose; [and] (B) a procedure to verify the student's visit at the institution of higher education, military recruitment center, or military installation; and (C) a procedure that requires written permission from a student's parent for a student to travel with a military recruiter for a visit to a military recruitment center or military installation. SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2017-2018 school year. 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, 2017.