87R647 JES-F
By: Harless H.B. No. 759
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the operation of threat assessment teams in public
schools and the establishment of a student threat assessment
database; creating a criminal offense.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 37.115, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsections (f-1) and (h-1) to read as follows:
(f-1) A team must complete a threat assessment of an
individual as required by Subsection (f) not later than the 30th day
after the date on which the team began the assessment.
(h-1) Not later than the 10th day after the date on which a
team makes a determination that a student poses a serious risk of
violence to self or others, the team shall:
(1) enter the student's threat assessment into the
threat assessment database established under Section 37.1151; and
(2) make a notation in the student's cumulative record
that the student is included in the threat assessment database.
SECTION 2. Subchapter D, Chapter 37, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 37.1151 to read as follows:
Sec. 37.1151. STUDENT THREAT ASSESSMENT DATABASE. (a) The
agency shall establish a database of student threat assessments
conducted under Section 37.115 in which there was a determination
that a student poses a serious risk of violence to self or others.
(b) The agency must allow access to the database reporting a
student's threat assessment to:
(1) a peace officer or school resource officer
assigned to a public or private primary or secondary school or
open-enrollment charter school that the student has attended or
currently attends; and
(2) the principal or principal's designee and the
superintendent or superintendent's designee at each public or
private primary or secondary school or open-enrollment charter
school that the student has attended or currently attends.
(c) A person authorized to access the threat assessment
database under Subsection (b) may access information in the
database solely for the purpose of ensuring school safety and
security. A person shall keep any information received from the
database confidential and may not use the information for a purpose
that does not directly relate to the purpose for which it was
obtained.
(d) Information regarding a student's threat assessment
reported in the threat assessment database must be permanently
erased from the database on the date that the student reaches 21
years of age.
(e) A person who has access to or obtains confidential
information in the threat assessment database commits an offense if
the person knowingly:
(1) uses the information for a purpose other than
ensuring school safety and security;
(2) permits inspection of the confidential
information by a person who is not authorized to inspect the
information; or
(3) releases or discloses the confidential
information to a person who is not entitled to the information.
(f) An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor.
(g) The commissioner shall adopt rules necessary to
implement this section.
SECTION 3. (a) Section 37.115(h-1), Education Code, as
added by this Act, applies beginning January 1, 2022.
(b) As soon as practicable after the effective date of this
Act but not later than January 1, 2022, the commissioner of
education shall establish the threat assessment database as
required by Section 37.1151, Education Code, as added by this Act.
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, 2021.