86R10393 MP-F
By: Meza H.B. No. 2022
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a public school student's right not to participate in or
observe animal research.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter Z, Chapter 25, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 25.904 to read as follows:
Sec. 25.904. STUDENT RIGHTS REGARDING ANIMAL RESEARCH. (a)
In this section, "animal research" means any instruction that
involves the use of a deceased animal or harm to a living animal,
including dissection, vivisection, incubation, capture, surgery,
or any other procedure that is invasive or may result in the
animal's death.
(b) A school district shall adopt a policy allowing students
enrolled in the district to elect not to participate in or observe
all or any part of animal research required or offered as part of
any course. The policy must:
(1) permit a student to make the election at any time;
(2) prohibit penalizing or discriminating against a
student in any manner for electing not to participate in or observe
the research; and
(3) require the teacher of a course in which animal
research is required or offered to:
(A) notify each student enrolled in the course
regarding the research and the policy adopted under this
subsection:
(i) on the first instructional day of the
course; and
(ii) if the research will occur more than 21
days after the first instructional day of the course, not later than
the 21st day before the date on which the research will occur; and
(B) provide a student who elects not to
participate in or observe the research an alternative assignment
that:
(i) does not involve harm to an animal;
(ii) provides the student with the
information the student is intended to learn from participating in
or observing the research or, if the research is required as part of
a test, assesses the student's knowledge of that information in an
alternative manner;
(iii) is substantially similar to the
research in regard to the amount of time and effort necessary for
completion; and
(iv) uses a grading method comparable to
the grading method used for the research.
(c) An alternative assignment provided under Subsection
(b)(3)(B) may involve the use of video recordings, models, books,
photographs, simulations, live observations in the wild or in a
zoo, or other tools that enable a student to learn about an animal's
anatomy, physiology, or life cycle by a method other than animal
research.
(d) Before the beginning of each school year, a school
district shall provide to each student enrolled in the district and
each teacher who teaches a course in which animal research is
required or offered written notice that includes:
(1) information regarding the policy adopted under
Subsection (b); and
(2) a list of each course in which animal research is
required or offered in that school year.
SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2019-2020
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, 2019.