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Senate Bill 36 |
Senate Author: Zaffirini |
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Effective: Vetoed |
House Sponsor: Turner, Chris |
Senate Bill 36 amends the Education Code to include a report made to a peace officer or a law enforcement agency as a qualifying report for purposes of an offense involving a failure to report an incident of personal hazing. The bill extends the immunity from civil or criminal liability granted to a person who voluntarily reports such an incident in the context of an educational institution's investigation or related process to include a person who cooperates in good faith with any law enforcement agency investigation regarding the incident. The bill establishes the Collaborative Task Force on Higher Education Mental Health Services to study and evaluate direct mental health services at public institutions of higher education, including those provided to students who have experienced hazing.
Governor's Reason for Veto: "Hazing on campus is a serious problem that deserves serious attention, which is why I signed Senate Bill 38 into law last session. This session's Senate Bill 36 was a worthy effort to further clarify the anti-hazing statute, until the House sponsor added an unnecessary provision that would simply grow government by creating yet another new task force. It is important to ensure that students receive mental-health services, and Texas's existing agencies and institutions can already study the issues that would be addressed by this vast new bureaucratic entity. Unfortunately, the Senate author's good idea to clean up a statute has been undercut by the House sponsor."