By: Barrientos S.B. No. 1394
73R8495 CAS-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to criminal history information concerning an applicant
1-3 for employment with a private elementary school; providing a
1-4 penalty.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Title 1, Education Code, is amended by adding
1-7 Chapter 3 to read as follows:
1-8 CHAPTER 3. PROVISIONS RELATING TO PRIVATE SCHOOLS
1-9 Sec. 3.001. CRIMINAL HISTORY INFORMATION OBTAINED BY PRIVATE
1-10 ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. (a) In this section, "private elementary
1-11 school" means a school that teaches students in one or more grade
1-12 levels, including kindergarten through the fifth grade level, and
1-13 that receives a majority of its funding from a source other than
1-14 public funds.
1-15 (b) A private elementary school shall obtain criminal
1-16 history record information that relates to an applicant to whom an
1-17 offer of employment is being considered by the school. A school is
1-18 not required to obtain information under this section, but may do
1-19 so, if the applicant was initially certified by the State Board of
1-20 Education in the year preceding the date of the application.
1-21 (c) A school may obtain information under this section from
1-22 any law enforcement agency, including a police department or the
1-23 Department of Public Safety, or from the institutional division of
1-24 the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. A law enforcement agency
2-1 that receives a request from a school for information under this
2-2 section shall furnish the information to the school as promptly as
2-3 possible.
2-4 (d) A school may use information obtained under this section
2-5 as provided by this section.
2-6 (e) A school may discharge an employee if the school obtains
2-7 information of the employee's conviction for a felony or an offense
2-8 involving moral turpitude that the employee did not disclose to the
2-9 school.
2-10 (f) A school shall notify the commissioner of education of a
2-11 certified applicant's conviction of any felony or of a misdemeanor
2-12 involving illegal conduct with a child disclosed in information
2-13 obtained under this section. The commissioner shall review each
2-14 report received under this section and, if appropriate, shall take
2-15 the required action to cancel or suspend the certificate of the
2-16 employee who is the subject of the report.
2-17 (g) Criminal history record information obtained under this
2-18 section is privileged information and is for the use of the school
2-19 and the Central Education Agency only. A person commits an offense
2-20 if the person releases or discloses the information to any person
2-21 other than to the subject of the report, the Central Education
2-22 Agency, or the chief personnel officer of a public or commercial
2-23 transportation company as provided by Subsection (i) of this
2-24 section. An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.
2-25 (h) A school or an employee of the school is not
2-26 civilly or criminally liable for making a report required under
2-27 this section.
3-1 (i) A school also shall obtain criminal history record
3-2 information that relates to an employee of or an applicant to whom
3-3 an offer of employment is being considered by a public or
3-4 commercial transportation company if the company contracts with the
3-5 school to provide transportation services and the employee or
3-6 applicant is retained to or is applying for a position to drive a
3-7 bus in which students of that school are transported. In the case
3-8 of criminal history record information for an employee or applicant
3-9 of a commercial transportation company, the company shall submit
3-10 the name of the employee or applicant to the school together with
3-11 the other identification data required to obtain criminal history
3-12 information. If the school obtains information that an employee or
3-13 applicant has been convicted of a felony or an offense involving
3-14 moral turpitude, the school shall inform the company's chief
3-15 personnel officer of the person's name, and the company may not
3-16 employ the person to drive a bus in which the students are
3-17 transported. In the case of criminal history record information
3-18 for an employee or applicant of a public transportation company,
3-19 the company shall make the name of the employee or applicant
3-20 available to the school together with the other identification data
3-21 required to obtain criminal history information. If the company
3-22 obtains information that an employee or applicant has been
3-23 convicted of a felony or an offense involving moral turpitude, the
3-24 company may not employ the person to drive a bus in which the
3-25 students are transported. A public or commercial transportation
3-26 company and its employees shall hold information under this
3-27 subsection in confidence for the limited purpose for which it was
4-1 provided.
4-2 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
4-3 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
4-4 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-5 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-6 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-7 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
4-8 () Section , Health and Safety Code ();