H.B. No. 2484
AN ACT
relating to the safety of a referee, judge, or other official at
certain public school extracurricular activities and competitions
and prohibiting certain conduct by a spectator related to those
officials' safety.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 33.081, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsections (f-1), (f-2), and (f-3) and amending Subsection
(g) to read as follows:
(f-1) A school district shall prohibit a spectator of an
extracurricular athletic activity or competition, including a
parent or guardian of a student participant, from attending any
future extracurricular athletic activity or competition sponsored
or sanctioned by the school district or the University
Interscholastic League if the spectator engages in conduct that
intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causes bodily injury to a
person serving as referee, judge, or other official of an
extracurricular athletic activity or competition in retaliation
for or as a result of the person's actions taken in performing the
duties of a referee, judge, or other official of the
extracurricular athletic activity or competition.
(f-2) A school district may establish an appeals process by
which:
(1) a person may appeal to the district a prohibition
imposed under Subsection (f-1); and
(2) the district may determine the facts associated
with the conduct for which the school district imposed a
prohibition under Subsection (f-1).
(f-3) A prohibition imposed under Subsection (f-1) must be
for not less than one year after the date on which the prohibition
is imposed but may not exceed five years from the date on which the
prohibition is imposed.
(g) An appeal to the commissioner is not a contested case
under Chapter 2001, Government Code, if the issues presented relate
to a person's [student's] eligibility to participate in or attend an
extracurricular activity [activities], including issues related to
a [the] student's grades, the school district's grading policy as
applied to a [the] student's eligibility, a [or the] student's
eligibility based on conduct described by Subsection (e-1), or a
spectator's eligibility to attend an extracurricular athletic
activity or competition under Subsection (f-1). The commissioner
may delegate the matter for decision to a person the commissioner
designates. The decision of the commissioner or the commissioner's
designee in a matter governed by this subsection may not be appealed
except on the grounds that the decision is arbitrary or capricious.
Evidence may not be introduced on appeal other than the record of
the evidence before the commissioner.
SECTION 2. Subchapter D, Chapter 33, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 33.099 to read as follows:
Sec. 33.099. SAFETY OF OFFICIAL. A school district or
open-enrollment charter school that holds an extracurricular
athletic activity or a University Interscholastic League athletic
competition on district or school property shall provide a peace
officer, a school resource officer, an administrator, or security
personnel to ensure the safety of a referee, judge, or other
official of the activity or competition until the official departs
district or school property if:
(1) a participant or spectator of the activity or
competition engages in, attempts to engage in, or threatens violent
conduct against the official or otherwise disrupts the duties or
free movement of the official; or
(2) the district or school reasonably suspects that an
incident described by Subdivision (1) may occur at the activity or
competition.
SECTION 3. This Act applies beginning with the 2023-2024
school year.
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, 2023.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2484 was passed by the House on April
14, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 139, Nays 4, 1 present, not
voting; that the House refused to concur in Senate amendments to
H.B. No. 2484 on May 17, 2023, and requested the appointment of a
conference committee to consider the differences between the two
houses; and that the House adopted the conference committee report
on H.B. No. 2484 on May 25, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 133,
Nays 10, 2 present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2484 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 15, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays
0; at the request of the House, the Senate appointed a conference
committee to consider the differences between the two houses; and
that the Senate adopted the conference committee report on H.B. No.
2484 on May 25, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor