S.B. No. 1696
AN ACT
relating to establishing a system for the sharing of information
regarding cyber attacks or other cybersecurity incidents occurring
in schools in this state.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Section 11.175, Education Code,
is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 11.175. SCHOOL [DISTRICT] CYBERSECURITY.
SECTION 2. Section 11.175, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (e) and adding Subsections (g), (h), and (i) to
read as follows:
(e) A school district or open-enrollment charter school
[The district's cybersecurity coordinator] shall report to the
agency or, if applicable, the entity that administers the system
established under Subsection (g) any cyber attack or other
cybersecurity incident against the school district's or
open-enrollment charter school's [district] cyberinfrastructure
that constitutes a breach of system security as soon as practicable
after the discovery of the attack or incident.
(g) The agency, in coordination with the Department of
Information Resources, shall establish and maintain a system to
coordinate the anonymous sharing of information concerning cyber
attacks or other cybersecurity incidents between participating
schools and the state. The system must:
(1) include each report made under Subsection (e);
(2) provide for reports made under Subsection (e) to
be shared between participating schools in as close to real time as
possible; and
(3) preserve a reporting school's anonymity by
preventing the disclosure through the system of the name of the
school at which an attack or incident occurred.
(h) In establishing the system under Subsection (g), the
agency may contract with a qualified third party to administer the
system.
(i) The commissioner shall adopt rules as necessary to
implement this section.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1696 passed the Senate on
April 20, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 28, Nays 3; and that
the Senate concurred in House amendment on May 29, 2021, by the
following vote: Yeas 26, Nays 4.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1696 passed the House, with
amendment, on May 26, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 146,
Nays 0, one present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor