By: Gerdes H.B. No. 4814
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the display of and allowance for non-human behaviors in
Texas schools.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. This bill may be referred to as the Forbidding
Unlawful Representation of Roleplaying in Education or
F.U.R.R.I.E.S Act.
SECTION 2. Section 31.007, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a) and (b) to read as follows:
(a) The board of trustees of an independent school district
shall, with the advice of its district-level committee established
under Subchapter F, Chapter 11, adopt a student code of conduct for
the district. The student code of conduct must be posted and
prominently displayed at each school campus or made available for
review at the office of the campus principal. In addition to
establishing standards for student conduct, the student code of
conduct must:
(1) specify the circumstances, in accordance with this
subchapter, under which a student may be removed from a classroom,
campus, disciplinary alternative education program, or vehicle
owned or operated by the district;
(2) specify conditions that authorize or require a
principal or other appropriate administrator to transfer a student
to a disciplinary alternative education program;
(3) outline conditions under which a student may be
suspended as provided by Section 37.005 or expelled as provided by
Section 37.007;
(4) specify that consideration will be given, as a
factor in each decision concerning suspension, removal to a
disciplinary alternative education program, expulsion, or
placement in a juvenile justice alternative education program,
regardless of whether the decision concerns a mandatory or
discretionary action, to:
(A) self-defense;
(B) intent or lack of intent at the time the
student engaged in the conduct;
(C) a student's disciplinary history;
(D) a disability that substantially impairs the
student's capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of the student's
conduct;
(E) a student's status in the conservatorship of
the Department of Family and Protective Services; or
(F) a student's status as a student who is
homeless;
(5) provide guidelines for setting the length of a
term of:
(A) a removal under Section 37.006; and
(B) an expulsion under Section 37.007;
(6) address the notification of a student's parent or
guardian of a violation of the student code of conduct committed by
the student that results in suspension, removal to a disciplinary
alternative education program, or expulsion;
(7) prohibit bullying, harassment, and making hit
lists and ensure that district employees enforce those
prohibitions;
(8) provide, as appropriate for students at each grade
level, methods, including options, for:
(A) managing students in the classroom, on school
grounds, and on a vehicle owned or operated by the district;
(B) disciplining students; and
(C) preventing and intervening in student
discipline problems, including bullying, harassment, and making
hit lists; [and]
(9) include an explanation of the provisions regarding
refusal of entry to or ejection from district property under
Section 37.105, including the appeal process established under
Section 37.105(h); and
(10) prohibit any non-human behavior by a student,
including presenting himself or herself, on days other than exempt
days, as anything other than a human being.
(b) In this section:
(1) "Bullying" has the meaning assigned by Section
37.0832.
(2) "Harassment" means threatening to cause harm or
bodily injury to another student, engaging in sexually intimidating
conduct, causing physical damage to the property of another
student, subjecting another student to physical confinement or
restraint, or maliciously taking any action that substantially
harms another student's physical or emotional health or safety.
(3) "Hit list" means a list of people targeted to be
harmed, using:
(A) a firearm, as defined by Section 46.01(3),
Penal Code;
(B) a knife, as defined by Section 46.01(7),
Penal Code; or
(C) any other object to be used with intent to
cause bodily harm.
(4) "Student who is homeless" has the meaning assigned
to the term "homeless children and youths" under 42 U.S.C. Section
11434a.
(5) "Exempt day" means:
(A) Halloween, or any singular school day within
one calendar week of Halloween, as designated by the school
district or school campus as a "Halloween Day";
(B) school dress-up or activity days on which
students are encouraged to wear costumes and garments that are
otherwise different from the district or school's normally accepted
dress code, provided that:
(i) there are not more than five such days
in a school year;
(ii) the theme is based on an era in human
history, a specific holiday, or a specific school event; and
(iii) the theme of the day is not solely or
primarily related to the history or celebration of a biological or
artificial species other than homo sapiens; and
(C) a day that the student must rehearse,
perform, or attend an event that would otherwise require the
student to dress in costume if the student is a school mascot or is
involved in district funded or sponsored theatre organization.
(6) "Non-Human Behavior" means any type of behavior or
accessory displayed by a student in a school district other than
behaviors or accessories typically displayed by a member of the
homo sapiens species including:
(A) using a litter box for the passing of stool,
urine, or other human byproducts;
(B) a personal or outward display, except during
a school play or by a school mascot, through surgical or superficial
means of features that are non-human such as:
(i) tails;
(ii) leashes, collars, other accessories
designed for pets;
(iii) fur, other than naturally occurring
human hair or a wig made to look like human hair;
(iv) artificial, animal-like ears; or
(v) other physiological features that have
not historically been assigned to the homo sapiens species through
a means of natural biological development;
(C) barking, meowing, hissing, or other animal
noises that are not human speech; and
(D) licking oneself or others for the purpose of
grooming or maintenance.
(7) "Human being" means a biological entity that
belongs to the species homo sapien.
SECTION 3. Section 37.002, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (f) to read as follows:
(f) Limiting a student to engaging only in human behaviors
is not a violation of this section.
SECTION 4. Subchapter Z, Chapter 25, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 29.905 to read as follows:
Sec. 25.905. PROHIBITION ON CERTAIN NON-HUMAN ACTIVITIES
AND BEHAVIORS. (a) "Exempt day" and "Human being" have the
definitions provided in Section 37.001.
(b) A student has an obligation to learn, grow, and advance
as a human child. A student may not, during school hours, a planned
district activity, or on school property:
(1) engage in any non-human behaviors as defined by
Chapter 37.001 (6) Education Code; or
(2) present himself or herself, on days other than
exempt days, as anything other than a human being.
(c) A student or group of students may not create an
organization under Subchapter E, Chapter 25, Education Code, for
the purposes of circumventing the regulations in this chapter
unless the organization is federally recognized.
SECTION 5. Subdivision 261.001(1), Family Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(1) "Abuse" includes the following acts or omissions
by a person:
(A) mental or emotional injury to a child that
results in an observable and material impairment in the child's
growth, development, or psychological functioning, including, in
an education setting, allowing or encouraging the child to develop
a dependance on or a belief that non-human behaviors are societally
acceptable;
(B) causing or permitting the child to be in a
situation in which the child sustains a mental or emotional injury
that results in an observable and material impairment in the
child's growth, development, or psychological functioning;
(C) physical injury that results in substantial
harm to the child, or the genuine threat of substantial harm from
physical injury to the child, including an injury that is at
variance with the history or explanation given and excluding an
accident or reasonable discipline by a parent, guardian, or
managing or possessory conservator that does not expose the child
to a substantial risk of harm;
(D) failure to make a reasonable effort to
prevent an action by another person that results in physical injury
that results in substantial harm to the child;
(E) sexual conduct harmful to a child's mental,
emotional, or physical welfare, including conduct that constitutes
the offense of continuous sexual abuse of young child or disabled
individual under Section 21.02, Penal Code, indecency with a child
under Section 21.11, Penal Code, sexual assault under Section
22.011, Penal Code, or aggravated sexual assault under Section
22.021, Penal Code;
(F) failure to make a reasonable effort to
prevent sexual conduct harmful to a child;
(G) compelling or encouraging the child to engage
in sexual conduct as defined by Section 43.01, Penal Code,
including compelling or encouraging the child in a manner that
constitutes an offense of trafficking of persons under Section
20A.02(a)(7) or (8), Penal Code, solicitation of prostitution under
Section 43.021, Penal Code, or compelling prostitution under
Section 43.05(a)(2), Penal Code;
(H) causing, permitting, encouraging, engaging
in, or allowing the photographing, filming, or depicting of the
child if the person knew or should have known that the resulting
photograph, film, or depiction of the child is obscene as defined by
Section 43.21, Penal Code, or pornographic;
(I) the current use by a person of a controlled
substance as defined by Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code, in a
manner or to the extent that the use results in physical, mental, or
emotional injury to a child;
(J) causing, expressly permitting, or
encouraging a child to use a controlled substance as defined by
Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code;
(K) causing, permitting, encouraging, engaging
in, or allowing a sexual performance by a child as defined by
Section 43.25, Penal Code;
(L) knowingly causing, permitting, encouraging,
engaging in, or allowing a child to be trafficked in a manner
punishable as an offense under Section 20A.02(a)(5), (6), (7), or
(8), Penal Code, or the failure to make a reasonable effort to
prevent a child from being trafficked in a manner punishable as an
offense under any of those sections; or
(M) forcing or coercing a child to enter into a
marriage.
SECTION 6. Section 26.011, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsections (c), (d), (e), and (f) to read as follows:
(c) A complainant who has a reasonable belief that a school
or school district or an employee of the school or school district
is committing a violation of Section 29.9051 or Section 21.0031(g),
Education Code, or Section 21.006(1), Education Code if the
violation is covered by Section 261.001(A), Family Code, may also
choose to file a complaint with the attorney general.
(d) If the attorney general determines that a school
district, or an employee of the district named in a complaint
received under Subsection (c) is violating this chapter, the
attorney general may file a petition for a writ of mandamus to
compel the governmental entity to comply with this chapter.
(e) A mandamus action under Subsection (d) must be filed in:
(1) the county in which the school or school district
is primarily located in; or
(2) Travis County if the school or school district is
an entity primarily operated by a statewide organization.
(f) If the attorney general finds an educator, education
administrator, school support staff, or a contractor who operates
for the school district in a role similar to a an educator,
education administrator, or school support staff in violation of
21.0031(g) Education Code, or 21.006(1) Education Code if the
violation is covered by Section 261.001(A) Family Code, the
attorney general may levy a fine against the district not to exceed
$10,000 for a first violation or $25,000 for any subsequent
violations.
SECTION 7. 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.