85R2078 KJE-F
By: Raymond H.B. No. 3580
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a policy of a school district concerning possession of a
telecommunications device by a student.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 37.082, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 37.082. POSSESSION OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS [PAGING]
DEVICES. (a) The board of trustees of a school district may adopt a
policy prohibiting a student from possessing a telecommunications
[paging] device while on school property or while attending a
school-sponsored or school-related activity on or off school
property. The policy may establish disciplinary measures to be
imposed for violation of the prohibition and may provide for
confiscation of the telecommunications [paging] device.
(b) A [The] policy adopted under Subsection (a) may provide
for the district to[:
[(1)] dispose of a confiscated telecommunications
[paging] device in any reasonable manner after having provided the
student's parent and any [the] company whose name and address or
telephone number appear on the device 30 days' prior notice of the
district's [its] intent to dispose of that device unless the device
is reclaimed in accordance with this section before the end of the
30-day period.
(b-1) The notice under Subsection (b):
(1) must [shall] include the serial number of the
telecommunications device; and
(2) may be made by telephone[, telegraph,] or in
writing.
(b-2) A school district may [; and (2)] charge the owner
of the telecommunications device or the student's parent an
administrative fee not to exceed $50 [$15] before the district [it]
releases the device.
(c) In this section, "telecommunications [paging] device"
means a [telecommunications] device designed primarily for the
purpose of making a phone call or of sending [that emits an audible
signal, vibrates, displays] a message electronically. The term
includes a smartphone.[, or otherwise summons or delivers a
communication to the possessor. The term does not include an
amateur radio under the control of an operator who holds an amateur
radio station license issued by the Federal Communications
Commission.]
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.