By:  Earley                                            H.B. No. 994
       73R4638 ESH-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the enforcement of the compulsory school attendance
    1-3  law.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Sections 4.25(a) and (b), Education Code, are
    1-6  amended to read as follows:
    1-7        (a)  If any parent or person standing in parental relation to
    1-8  a child, within the compulsory school attendance ages and not
    1-9  lawfully exempt or properly excused from school attendance, fails
   1-10  to require such child to attend school for such periods as required
   1-11  by law, it shall be the duty of the proper attendance officer to
   1-12  warn, in writing, the parent or person standing in parental
   1-13  relation that attendance must be immediately required.  If after
   1-14  this warning the parent or person standing in parental relation
   1-15  intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, or with criminal negligence
   1-16  fails to require the child to attend school as required by law, the
   1-17  parent or person standing in parental relation commits an offense.
   1-18  The attendance officer shall file a complaint against him in the
   1-19  county court, in the justice court of his resident precinct, or in
   1-20  the municipal court of the municipality in which he resides or in
   1-21  the municipality or justice of the peace precinct in which the
   1-22  school is located.  In addition, if the child has been voluntarily
   1-23  absent from school for 10 or more days or parts of days within a
   1-24  six-month period or three or more days or parts of days within a
    2-1  four-week period without the consent of his parents, the attendance
    2-2  officer shall refer the child to the county juvenile probation
    2-3  department for action as conduct indicating a need for supervision
    2-4  under Section 51.03(b), Family Code.  A court in which a complaint
    2-5  is filed under this subsection shall give preference to a hearing
    2-6  on the complaint over other cases before the court.  An offense
    2-7  under this section is punishable by a fine of not less than $10
    2-8  <$5> nor more than $50 <$25> for the first offense, not less than
    2-9  $20 <$10> nor more than $100 <$50> for the second offense, and not
   2-10  less than $50 <$25> nor more than $200 <$100> for a subsequent
   2-11  offense.  Each day the child remains out of school after the
   2-12  warning has been given or the child ordered to school by the
   2-13  juvenile court may constitute a separate offense.  If the court
   2-14  probates the sentence, the court may require the defendant to
   2-15  render personal services to a charitable or educational institution
   2-16  as a condition of probation.
   2-17        (b)  A fine collected under this section shall be deposited
   2-18  as follows:
   2-19              (1)  one-half shall be deposited to the credit of the
   2-20  operating fund of the school district in which the child attends
   2-21  school; and
   2-22              (2)  one-half shall be deposited to the credit of:
   2-23                    (A)  the general fund of the county, if the
   2-24  complaint is filed in the county court or justice court; or
   2-25                    (B)  the general fund of the municipality, if the
   2-26  complaint is filed in municipal court <It is a defense to
   2-27  prosecution under Subsection (a) of this section that the parent or
    3-1  person standing in parental relation to the child is unable to
    3-2  compel the child to attend school>.
    3-3        SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
    3-4  only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
    3-5  Act.  For the purposes of this section, an offense is committed
    3-6  before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense
    3-7  occurs before the effective date.
    3-8        (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
    3-9  Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
   3-10  and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
   3-11        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   3-12        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   3-13  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   3-14  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   3-15  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   3-16  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.