By: Creighton S.B. No. 2972
(In the Senate - Filed March 14, 2025; April 7, 2025, read
first time and referred to Committee on Education K-16;
April 28, 2025, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 8, Nays 2; April 28, 2025,
sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 2972 By: Paxton
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to expressive activities at public institutions of higher
education.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 51.9315(a)(2), (3), and (4), Education
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(2) "Expressive activities" means any speech or
expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment to the United
States Constitution or by Section 8, Article I, Texas Constitution,
and includes assemblies, protests, speeches, the distribution of
written material, the carrying of signs, and the circulation of
petitions. The term does not include:
(A) commercial speech;
(B) defamation;
(C) unlawful harassment;
(D) incitement to imminent unlawful activity;
(E) obscenity; or
(F) threats to engage in unlawful activity.
(3) "Governing board" and "institution ["Institution]
of higher education" have [has] the meanings [meaning] assigned by
Section 61.003.
(4) "Student organization" includes any organization
that is composed [mostly] of students enrolled at an institution of
higher education and that receives a benefit from the institution.
SECTION 2. Section 51.9315, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (b), (c), (d), and (f) and adding Subsections
(d-1) and (k) to read as follows:
(b) It is the policy of this state and the purpose of this
section to protect the expressive rights of persons guaranteed by
the constitutions of the United States and of this state by:
(1) recognizing freedom of speech and assembly as
central to the mission of institutions of higher education; and
(2) ensuring that students enrolled at and employees
of an institution of higher education [all persons] may assemble
peaceably on the campuses of the institution [institutions of
higher education] for expressive activities, including to listen to
or observe the expressive activities of others.
(c) An institution of higher education shall[:
[(1) ensure that the common outdoor areas of the
institution's campus are deemed traditional public forums; and
[(2)] permit students enrolled at and employees of the
institution [any person] to engage in expressive activities in the
common outdoor [those] areas of the institution's campus freely, as
long as the expressive activity [person's conduct]:
(1) [(A)] is not unlawful; and
(2) [(B)] does not materially and substantially
disrupt the functioning of the institution.
(d) Notwithstanding Subsection (c), an institution of
higher education may adopt a policy that imposes reasonable
restrictions on the time, place, and manner of expressive
activities of students enrolled at and employees of the institution
in the common outdoor areas of the institution's campus if those
restrictions:
(1) are reasonable in light of the purpose of the area
to which the restrictions apply [narrowly tailored to serve a
significant institutional interest];
(2) employ clear, published, content-neutral, and
viewpoint-neutral criteria;
(3) provide for ample alternative means of expression;
and
(4) allow students enrolled at and employees of the
institution [members of the university community] to assemble or
distribute written material without a permit or other permission
from the institution.
(d-1) The governing board of an institution of higher
education may designate the areas on the institution's campus that
are public forums, consistent with the First Amendment to the
United States Constitution and Section 8, Article I, Texas
Constitution.
(f) Each institution of higher education shall adopt a
policy detailing [students'] rights and responsibilities regarding
expressive activities at the institution. The policy must:
(1) allow:
(A) students enrolled at and employees of the
institution [any person] to, subject to reasonable restrictions
adopted under Subsection (d), engage in expressive activities on
campus, including by responding to the expressive activities of
others; and
(B) student organizations and faculty to,
subject to Subdivision (2)(B)(ii) and Subsection (h), invite
speakers to speak on campus;
(2) prohibit:
(A) using a device to amplify sound while
engaging in expressive activities on campus during class hours;
(B) during the last two weeks of a semester or
term, engaging in expressive activities:
(i) in the common outdoor areas of the
institution's campus in a manner that materially and substantially
disrupts the functioning of the institution;
(ii) by inviting speakers to speak on
campus;
(iii) by using a device to amplify sound; or
(iv) by using drums or other percussive
instruments;
(C) camping or erecting tents or other living
accommodations on campus;
(D) wearing a mask, facial covering, disguise, or
other means of concealing a person's identity while engaging in
expressive activities on campus with the intent to:
(i) obstruct the enforcement of the
institution's rules or the law by avoiding identification;
(ii) intimidate others; or
(iii) interfere with an institution
employee's or a peace officer's lawful performance of a duty;
(E) lowering the institution's flag of the United
States or of this state with the intent to raise the flag of another
nation or a flag representing an organization or group of people;
and
(F) engaging in expressive activities on campus
between the hours of 10 p.m. and 8 a.m.;
(3) [(2)] establish disciplinary sanctions for
students, student organizations, or employees [faculty] who unduly
interfere with the expressive activities of others on campus or
violate an institution policy or state law;
(4) [(3)] include a grievance procedure for
addressing complaints of a violation of this section;
(5) require students enrolled at or employees of the
institution to present proof of identity and status at the
institution on request by a peace officer on the institution's
campus engaging in an official duty;
(6) [(4)] be approved by a majority vote of the
institution's governing board before final adoption; and
(7) [(5)] be posted on the institution's Internet
website.
(k) Nothing in this section limits the authority of an
institution of higher education to adopt rules differentiating
between the rights of students and employees to engage in
expressive activities on campus and those of persons not affiliated
with the institution.
SECTION 3. Section 51.9315, Education Code, as amended by
this Act, applies beginning with the 2025-2026 academic 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, 2025.
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