By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 37
(In the Senate - Filed November 14, 2022; February 15, 2023,
read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
March 23, 2023, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 7,
Nays 0; March 23, 2023, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the criminal offense of hazing.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 37.152(a), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) A person commits an offense if the person:
(1) engages in hazing;
(2) solicits, encourages, directs, aids, or attempts
to aid another in engaging in hazing;
(3) recklessly permits hazing to occur; or
(4) has firsthand knowledge of the planning of a
specific hazing incident involving a student in an educational
institution, or has firsthand knowledge that a specific hazing
incident has occurred, and knowingly fails to report that knowledge
[in writing] to the dean of students or other appropriate official
of the institution, a peace officer, or a law enforcement agency.
SECTION 2. Section 37.155(b), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(b) Any person, including an entity organized to support an
organization, who voluntarily reports a specific hazing incident
involving a student in an educational institution to the dean of
students or other appropriate official of the institution, a peace
officer, or a law enforcement agency 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 or a law enforcement agency concerning the incident or
otherwise being included in the institution's or a law enforcement
agency'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:
(A) any institutional process regarding the
incident, as determined by the dean of students or other
appropriate official of the institution designated by the
institution; or
(B) any law enforcement agency's investigation
regarding the incident, as determined by the chief or other
appropriate official of the law enforcement agency designated by
the law enforcement agency.
SECTION 3. 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 4. 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 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.
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