Enrolled Bill Summary

House Bill 1284	House Author:  Johnson et al.
Effective:  6-14-13	Senate Sponsor:  Huffman

            Current law enhances the penalty for the offense of initiating, communicating, or circulating a false report of an emergency from a Class A misdemeanor to a state jail felony if the false report is of an emergency involving certain public schools or public services. House Bill 1284 amends the Penal Code to include a public or private institution of higher education among those entities and amends the Education Code to require each public, private, or independent institution of higher education to notify all incoming students, as soon as practicable, of the penalty for that offense involving a public or private institution of higher education. A private or independent institution of higher education is not required to comply with that requirement if the institution determines that providing the notice is not feasible, but this provision expires on August 1, 2014.