By: Hughes S.B. No. 1699
(In the Senate - Filed March 11, 2021; March 26, 2021, read
first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
April 14, 2021, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 7,
Nays 2; April 14, 2021, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the protection of expressive rights of student
organizations at public institutions of higher education.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 51.9315, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (g-1) to read as
follows:
Sec. 51.9315. PROTECTED EXPRESSION ON CAMPUS. (a) In this
section:
(1) "Benefit" includes:
(A) recognition by or registration with an
institution of higher education;
(B) the use of an institution of higher
education's facilities for meetings or speaking purposes;
(C) the use of channels of communication
controlled by an institution of higher education; and
(D) funding sources made generally available to
student organizations at an institution of higher education.
(2) "Expressive activities" means any speech or
expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment to the United
States Constitution or by Section 8, Article I, Texas Constitution,
and includes assemblies, protests, speeches, the distribution of
written material, the carrying of signs, and the circulation of
petitions. The term does not include commercial speech.
(3) "Expressive rights" means the rights protected by
the First Amendment to the United States Constitution or by Section
8, Article I, Texas Constitution, including freedom of speech,
freedom of the press, freedom of association, and free exercise of
religion.
(4) [(3)] "Institution of higher education" has the
meaning assigned by Section 61.003.
(5) [(4)] "Student organization" includes any
organization that is composed mostly of students enrolled at an
institution of higher education and that receives a benefit from
the institution.
(g-1) An institution of higher education shall permit a
student organization formed for the purpose of exercising
expressive rights to establish and maintain membership and
leadership qualifications for the organization that further the
organization's purpose, including by requiring the organization's
leaders or members to:
(1) adhere to or comply with the organization's:
(A) sincerely held beliefs; or
(B) sincere standards of conduct; or
(2) be committed to furthering the organization's
mission or purpose.
SECTION 2. 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.
* * * * *