By Place H.B. No. 1649
75R5759 CAS-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to thwarting the compulsory school attendance law;
1-3 providing a penalty.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 25.093(e), Education Code, is amended to
1-6 read as follows:
1-7 (e) Except as otherwise provided by this subsection, an [An]
1-8 offense under this section is a Class C misdemeanor. An offense
1-9 under this section is a Class B misdemeanor if it is shown on the
1-10 trial of the offense that the defendant has previously been
1-11 convicted under this section. [Each day the child remains out of
1-12 school after the warning has been given or the child has been
1-13 ordered to attend school by the juvenile court may constitute a
1-14 separate offense. Two or more offenses under this section may be
1-15 consolidated and prosecuted in a single action.] If the court
1-16 probates the sentence, the court may require the defendant to
1-17 render personal services to a charitable or educational institution
1-18 as a condition of probation. In making a determination concerning
1-19 requiring the defendant to render personal services, the court may
1-20 assess and consider lost funding resulting from the child's failure
1-21 to attend school to the school district in which the child is
1-22 enrolled.
1-23 SECTION 2. (a) The change in law made by this Act applies
1-24 only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
2-1 Act. For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
2-2 the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
2-3 before that date.
2-4 (b) An offense committed before the effective date of this
2-5 Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
2-6 and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
2-7 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
2-8 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-9 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-10 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-11 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-12 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.