89R13491 MEW-D
By: Hickland H.B. No. 4448
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to an automated artificial intelligence review of library
material purchased by public schools; providing an administrative
penalty.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 35, Education Code, is amended by adding
Section 35.0022 to read as follows:
Sec. 35.0022. AUTOMATED ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE LIBRARY
MATERIAL REVIEW. (a) Not later than 90 days before purchasing
library material from a library material vendor, a school district
or open-enrollment charter school must ensure the material is
submitted to a third party approved by the agency to conduct an
automated artificial intelligence review of the material to
determine whether the material should be rated as sexually explicit
material or sexually relevant material.
(b) Not later than the 20th business day after an automated
artificial intelligence review is conducted under Subsection (a),
an individual employed or contracted by the third party shall
verify the results of the review.
(c) If an automated artificial intelligence review
conducted under Subsection (a) rates a library material as sexually
explicit material or sexually relevant material, the third party
must provide to the school district or open-enrollment charter
school a detailed report that contains:
(1) the specific content flagged as sexually explicit
or sexually relevant;
(2) the historical, educational, or other context in
which the content appears; and
(3) the rationale for why the material was rated as
sexually explicit or sexually relevant.
(d) A school district or open-enrollment charter school:
(1) may not purchase a library material that has been
determined to contain sexually explicit material; and
(2) must require parental consent in accordance with
Section 35.005 for a library material determined to contain
sexually relevant material.
(e) A school district or open-enrollment charter school
shall maintain documentation regarding each automated artificial
intelligence review conducted under this section.
(f) The commissioner shall adopt and post on the agency's
Internet website a list of third parties approved to conduct an
automated artificial intelligence review under Subsection (a). In
adopting the list, the commissioner:
(1) may not approve a third party that holds a
financial interest in a library material vendor;
(2) must require bias mitigation protocols and
cultural competency testing;
(3) must ensure the third party has received training
on the definitions of sexually explicit and sexually relevant
material under Section 35.001; and
(4) must require the third party to update the third
party's automated artificial intelligence review system at least
quarterly.
(g) The agency shall conduct quarterly audits of not less
than five percent of library materials submitted for review under
Subsection (a) to ensure accuracy in ratings and compliance with
the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, Section 8,
Article I, Texas Constitution, other federal and state law, and
school district and open-enrollment charter school policies. In
conducting audits under this subsection, the agency may establish
an oversight committee composed of educators, librarians, legal
experts, and community representatives to verify the accuracy of an
automated artificial intelligence review system.
(h) The agency shall remove a third party from the list
adopted under Subsection (f) if the agency's audit under Subsection
(g) determines that the third party's automated artificial
intelligence review system has less than a 95 percent rate of
accuracy in rating library material as sexually explicit material
or sexually relevant material.
(i) The agency shall assess an administrative penalty
against a school district or open-enrollment charter school that
violates Subsection (a) or (d)(1) in an amount not to exceed $10,000
for each library material acquired in violation of that provision.
(j) If, based on automated artificial intelligence reviews
and audits conducted under this section, the commissioner
determines that a library material vendor has not rated or
incorrectly rated three or more library materials in violation of
this chapter, the commissioner shall place that library material
vendor on a list posted and maintained in a conspicuous place on the
agency's Internet website. A school district or open-enrollment
charter school may not purchase library material from a library
material vendor on the list.
(k) A parent of or person standing in parental relation to a
student enrolled in a school district or open-enrollment charter
school that violates this section may bring an action for
injunctive relief against the district or school to compel the
district or school to comply with this section.
SECTION 2. Section 35.005, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 35.005. PARENTAL CONSENT REQUIRED FOR USE OF CERTAIN
LIBRARY MATERIALS. A school district or open-enrollment charter
school may not allow a student enrolled in the district or school to
reserve, check out, or otherwise use outside the school library
library material the library material vendor or the automated
artificial intelligence review has rated as sexually relevant
material under Section 35.002(a) or 35.0022(a) unless the district
or school first obtains written consent from the student's parent
or person standing in parental relation.
SECTION 3. Not later than the first day of the 2026-2027
school year, the commissioner of education shall adopt the list of
approved third parties as required under Section 35.0022(f),
Education Code, as added by this Act.
SECTION 4. This Act applies beginning with the 2026-2027
school year.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.