By: Lucio S.B. No. 1707
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the duties of school district peace officers, school
resource officers, and security personnel.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 30.052(l), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(l) The governing board of the Texas School for the Deaf may
employ security personnel, enter into a memorandum of understanding
with a local law enforcement agency for the provision of school
resource officers, and [may] commission peace officers in the same
manner as a board of trustees of a school district under Section
37.081.
SECTION 2. The heading to Section 37.081, Education Code,
is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 37.081. SCHOOL DISTRICT PEACE OFFICERS, SCHOOL
RESOURCE OFFICERS, AND SECURITY PERSONNEL.
SECTION 3. Section 37.081, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a) and (d) and adding Subsections (d-1),
(d-2), (d-3), and (d-4) to read as follows:
(a) The board of trustees of any school district may employ
security personnel, enter into a memorandum of understanding with a
local law enforcement agency for the provision of school resource
officers, and [may] commission peace officers to carry out this
subchapter. If a board of trustees authorizes a person employed as
security personnel to carry a weapon, the person must be a
commissioned peace officer. The jurisdiction of a peace officer, a
school resource officer, or security personnel under this section
shall be determined by the board of trustees and may include all
territory in the boundaries of the school district and all property
outside the boundaries of the district that is owned, leased, or
rented by or otherwise under the control of the school district and
the board of trustees that employ the peace officer or security
personnel or that enter into a memorandum of understanding for the
provision of a school resource officer.
(d) The [A school district peace officer shall perform law
enforcement duties for the school district as determined by the]
board of trustees of the school district shall determine the law
enforcement duties of peace officers, school resource officers, and
security personnel. The duties must be included in:
(1) the district improvement plan under Section
11.252;
(2) the student code of conduct adopted under Section
37.001;
(3) any memorandum of understanding providing for a
school resource officer; and
(4) any other campus or district document describing
the role of peace officers, school resource officers, or security
personnel in the district.
(d-1) A school district peace officer, a school resource
officer, and security personnel shall perform law enforcement
duties for the school district that [Those duties] must include
protecting:
(1) the safety and welfare of any person in the
jurisdiction of the peace officer, resource officer, or security
personnel; and
(2) the property of the school district.
(d-2) A school district may not assign or require as duties
of a school district peace officer, a school resource officer, or
security personnel:
(1) routine student discipline or school
administrative tasks; or
(2) contact with students unrelated to the law
enforcement duties of the peace officer, resource officer, or
security personnel.
(d-3) This section does not prohibit a school district peace
officer, a school resource officer, or security personnel from
informal contact with a student unrelated to:
(1) the assigned duties of the officer or security
personnel; or
(2) an incident involving student behavior or law
enforcement.
(d-4) In determining the law enforcement duties under
Subsection (d), the board of trustees of the school district shall
coordinate with district campus behavior coordinators and other
district employees to ensure that school district peace officers,
school resource officers, and security personnel are tasked only
with duties related to law enforcement intervention and not tasked
with behavioral or administrative duties better addressed by other
district employees.
SECTION 4. 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.