By Montford S.B. No. 1668 74R10421 KKA-D A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-1 AN ACT 1-2 relating to review by school districts of the criminal history of 1-3 applicants for employment and school bus drivers. 1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-5 SECTION 1. Sections 21.917(a) and (h), Education Code, are 1-6 amended to read as follows: 1-7 (a) A school district shall obtain criminal history record 1-8 information from the Department of Public Safety, the Federal 1-9 Bureau of Investigation identification division, or both that 1-10 relates to an applicant to whom an offer of employment is being 1-11 considered by the district. A district is not required to obtain 1-12 information under this section, but may do so, if the applicant was 1-13 initially certified by the State Board of Education in the year 1-14 preceding the date of the application. 1-15 (h)(1) A school district shall also obtain criminal history 1-16 record information from the Department of Public Safety, the 1-17 Federal Bureau of Investigation identification division, or both 1-18 that relates to an employee of or an applicant to whom an offer of 1-19 employment is being considered by a public or commercial 1-20 transportation company if the company contracts with a school 1-21 district to provide transportation services and the employee or 1-22 applicant is retained to or is applying for a position to drive a 1-23 bus in which students of that district are transported, provided 1-24 that: 2-1 (A) in the case of criminal history record 2-2 information for such employees or applicants of a commercial 2-3 transportation company, the company shall submit the names of such 2-4 employees and applicants to the district together with the other 2-5 identification data required to obtain criminal history 2-6 information, including, if requested by the district, a complete 2-7 set or sets of each individual's fingerprints in the format 2-8 required by the district; if the school district obtains 2-9 information that an employee or applicant has been convicted of a 2-10 felony or an offense involving moral turpitude, the district shall 2-11 inform the company's chief personnel officer of the person's name, 2-12 and the company may not employ the person to drive a bus in which 2-13 the students are transported; and 2-14 (B) in the case of criminal history record 2-15 information for such employees or applicants of a public 2-16 transportation company, the company shall make the names of such 2-17 employees and applicants available to the district together with 2-18 the other identification data required to obtain criminal history 2-19 information, including, if requested by the district, a complete 2-20 set or sets of each individual's fingerprints in the format 2-21 required by the district; if the company obtains information that 2-22 an employee or applicant has been convicted of a felony or an 2-23 offense involving moral turpitude, the company may not employ the 2-24 person to drive a bus in which the students are transported. 2-25 (2) The company and its employees shall hold the 2-26 information in confidence for the limited purpose for which it was 2-27 provided. 3-1 SECTION 2. Notwithstanding Section 311.025, Government Code, 3-2 this Act prevails over any revision, recodification, or reenactment 3-3 of Titles 1 and 2, Education Code, by the 74th Legislature, Regular 3-4 Session, 1995, including S.B. No. 1. 3-5 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the 3-6 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 3-7 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 3-8 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 3-9 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 3-10 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 3-11 passage, and it is so enacted.