S.B. No. 38
AN ACT
relating to the offense of hazing.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 37.151(5) and (6), Education Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(5) "Organization" means a fraternity, sorority,
association, corporation, order, society, corps, club, or student
government, a band or musical group or an academic, athletic,
cheerleading, or dance team, including any group or team that
participates in National Collegiate Athletic Association
competition, or a service, social, or similar group, whose members
are primarily students.
(6) "Hazing" means any intentional, knowing, or
reckless act, occurring on or off the campus of an educational
institution, by one person alone or acting with others, directed
against a student[, that endangers the mental or physical health or
safety of a student] for the purpose of pledging, being initiated
into, affiliating with, holding office in, or maintaining
membership in an organization if the act:
(A) is[. The term includes:
[(A)] any type of physical brutality, such as
whipping, beating, striking, branding, electronic shocking,
placing of a harmful substance on the body, or similar activity;
(B) involves [any type of physical activity, such
as] sleep deprivation, exposure to the elements, confinement in a
small space, calisthenics, or other similar activity that subjects
the student to an unreasonable risk of harm or that adversely
affects the mental or physical health or safety of the student;
(C) involves [any activity involving]
consumption of a food, liquid, alcoholic beverage, liquor, drug, or
other substance, other than as described by Paragraph (E), that
subjects the student to an unreasonable risk of harm or that
adversely affects the mental or physical health or safety of the
student;
(D) is [any activity that intimidates or
threatens the student with ostracism, that subjects the student to
extreme mental stress, shame, or humiliation, that adversely
affects the mental health or dignity of the student or discourages
the student from entering or remaining registered in an educational
institution, or that may reasonably be expected to cause a student
to leave the organization or the institution rather than submit to
acts described in this subdivision; and
[(E)] any activity that induces, causes, or
requires the student to perform a duty or task that involves a
violation of the Penal Code; or
(E) involves coercing, as defined by Section
1.07, Penal Code, the student to consume:
(i) a drug; or
(ii) an alcoholic beverage or liquor in an
amount that would lead a reasonable person to believe that the
student is intoxicated, as defined by Section 49.01, Penal Code.
SECTION 2. Section 37.155, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 37.155. IMMUNITY FROM PROSECUTION OR CIVIL LIABILITY
AVAILABLE. (a) In the prosecution of an offense under this
subchapter, the court may grant immunity from prosecution for the
offense to each person who is subpoenaed to testify for the
prosecution and who does testify for the prosecution.
(b) Any person who voluntarily reports [reporting] a
specific hazing incident involving a student in an educational
institution to the dean of students or other appropriate official
of the institution is immune from civil or criminal liability that
might otherwise be incurred or imposed as a result of the reported
hazing incident if the person:
(1) reports the incident before being contacted by the
institution concerning the incident or otherwise being included in
the institution's investigation of the incident; and
(2) as determined by the dean of students or other
appropriate official of the institution designated by the
institution, cooperates in good faith throughout any institutional
process regarding the incident [report].
(c) Immunity under Subsection (b) extends to participation
in any judicial proceeding resulting from the report.
(d) A person is not immune under Subsection (b) if the
person:
(1) reports the person's own act of hazing; or
(2) reports an incident of hazing [reporting] in bad
faith or with malice [is not protected by this section].
SECTION 3. Subchapter F, Chapter 37, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 37.158 to read as follows:
Sec. 37.158. VENUE. (a) In this section, "prosecuting
attorney" means a county attorney, district attorney, or criminal
district attorney.
(b) An offense under this subchapter may be prosecuted:
(1) in any county in which the offense may be
prosecuted under other law; or
(2) if the consent required by Subsection (c) is
provided, in a county, other than a county described by Subdivision
(1), in which is located the educational institution campus at
which a victim of the offense is enrolled.
(c) An offense under this subchapter may be prosecuted in a
county described by Subsection (b)(2) only with the written consent
of a prosecuting attorney of a county described by Subsection
(b)(1) who has authority to prosecute an offense under this
subchapter.
SECTION 4. Section 51.936, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (c) and adding Subsections (c-1) and (c-2) to
read as follows:
(c) Not later than the 14th day before the first class day of
each fall or spring semester, each [Each] postsecondary educational
institution shall distribute to each student enrolled at the
institution [during the first three weeks of each semester]:
(1) a summary of the provisions of Subchapter F,
Chapter 37; and
(2) a copy of, or an electronic link to a copy of, the
report required under Subsection (c-1) [list of organizations that
have been disciplined for hazing or convicted for hazing on or off
the campus of the institution during the preceding three years].
(c-1) Each postsecondary educational institution shall
develop and post in a prominent location on the institution's
Internet website a report on hazing committed on or off campus by an
organization registered with or recognized by the institution. The
report:
(1) must include information regarding each
disciplinary action taken by the institution against an
organization for hazing, and each conviction of hazing under
Section 37.153 by an organization, during the three years preceding
the date on which the report is issued or updated, including:
(A) the name of the organization disciplined or
convicted;
(B) the date on which the incident occurred or
the citation was issued, if applicable;
(C) the date on which the institution's
investigation into the incident, if any, was initiated;
(D) a general description of:
(i) the incident;
(ii) the violations of the institution's
code of conduct or the criminal charges, as applicable;
(iii) the findings of the institution or
court; and
(iv) any sanctions imposed by the
institution, or any fines imposed by the court, on the
organization; and
(E) the date on which the institution's
disciplinary process was resolved or on which the conviction became
final;
(2) must be updated to include information regarding
each disciplinary process or conviction not later than the 30th day
after the date on which the disciplinary process is resolved or the
conviction becomes final, as applicable; and
(3) may not include personally identifiable student
information and must comply with the Family Educational Rights and
Privacy Act of 1974 (20 U.S.C. Section 1232g).
(c-2) Each postsecondary educational institution shall
provide to each student who attends the institution's student
orientation a notice regarding the nature and availability of the
report required under Subsection (c-1), including the report's
Internet website address.
SECTION 5. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.
An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect when the offense was committed, and
the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For
purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the
effective date of this Act if any element of the offense was
committed before that date.
SECTION 6. Section 37.155, Education Code, as amended by
this Act, applies only to a civil cause of action that accrues on or
after the effective date of this Act. An action that accrued before
the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect at
the time the action accrued, and that law is continued in effect for
that purpose.
SECTION 7. Section 51.936(c), Education Code, as amended by
this Act, and Section 51.936(c-2), Education Code, as added by this
Act, apply beginning with the 2020 spring semester.
SECTION 8. Not later than January 1, 2020, each
postsecondary educational institution shall develop and post on the
institution's Internet website the report required under Section
51.936(c-1), Education Code, as added by this Act.
SECTION 9. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 38 passed the Senate on
April 11, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 26, Nays 5; and that
the Senate concurred in House amendments on May 23, 2019, by the
following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 1.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 38 passed the House, with
amendments, on May 17, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 131,
Nays 15, one present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor