89R21338 CMO-D
By: Fairly, Patterson, Talarico, Buckley, H.B. No. 1481
et al.
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 1481:
By: Buckley C.S.H.B. No. 1481
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to school district and open-enrollment charter school
policies regarding student use of personal communication devices.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 37.082, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 37.082. STUDENT USE [POSSESSION] OF PERSONAL
COMMUNICATION [PAGING] DEVICES. (a) Notwithstanding any other law
and subject to Subsection (c), the [The] board of trustees of a
school district or the governing body of an open-enrollment charter
school shall [may] adopt, implement, and ensure the district or
school complies with a written policy prohibiting a student from
using [possessing] a personal communication [paging] device while
on school property during the school day [or while attending a
school-sponsored or school-related activity on or off school
property]. The policy must [may] establish disciplinary measures
to be imposed for violation of the prohibition and may provide for
confiscation of the personal communication [paging] device.
(b) The policy may provide for the school district or
open-enrollment charter school to:
(1) comply with this section by:
(A) prohibiting a student from bringing a
personal communication device on school property; or
(B) designating a method for the storage of a
student's personal communication device while the student is on
school property during the school day; and
(2) dispose of a confiscated personal communication
[paging] device in any reasonable manner after having provided the
student's parent 90 [and the company whose name and address or
telephone number appear on the device 30] days' prior notice in
writing of the district's or school's [its] intent to dispose of
that device. [The notice shall include the serial number of the
device and may be made by telephone, telegraph, or in writing; and
[(2) charge the owner of the device or the student's
parent an administrative fee not to exceed $15 before it releases
the device.]
(c) In adopting the policy, the board of trustees of a
school district or governing body of an open-enrollment charter
school must authorize the use of a personal communication device:
(1) necessary to implement an individualized
education program, a plan created under Section 504, Rehabilitation
Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. Section 794), or a similar program or plan;
(2) by a student with a documented need based on a
directive from a qualified physician; or
(3) necessary to comply with a health or safety
requirement imposed by law or as part of the district's or school's
safety protocols.
(d) In this section, "personal communication [paging]
device" means a telephone, cell phone such as a smartphone or flip
phone, tablet, smartwatch, radio device, paging device, or any
other electronic [telecommunications] device capable of
telecommunication or digital communication [that emits an audible
signal, vibrates, displays a message, or otherwise summons or
delivers a communication to the possessor]. The term does not
include an electronic device provided to a student by a school
district or open-enrollment charter school [an amateur radio under
the control of an operator who holds an amateur radio station
license issued by the Federal Communications Commission].
(e) The agency shall develop and publish on the agency's
Internet website model language for the policy required under this
section.
(f) This section does not apply to an adult education
program operated under a charter granted under Subchapter G,
Chapter 12.
SECTION 2. As soon as practicable, but not later than the
90th day after the effective date of this Act, the board of trustees
of a school district or the governing body of an open-enrollment
charter school shall adopt the policy required by Section 37.082,
Education Code, as amended by this Act.
SECTION 3. 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, 2025.