79R12532 KCR-D


By:  Berman                                                       H.B. No. 126



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the penalty for tampering with a governmental record 
establishing residency for enrollment in a public school and to 
residency requirements for public school enrollment.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 37.10(c), Penal Code, is amended to read 
as follows:     
	(c)(1)  Except as provided by Subdivisions [Subdivision] (2) 
and (3) and by Subsection (d), an offense under this section is a 
Class A misdemeanor unless the actor's intent is to defraud or harm 
another, in which event the offense is a state jail felony.
		(2)  An offense under this section is a felony of the 
third degree if it is shown on the trial of the offense that the 
governmental record was a public school record, report, or 
assessment instrument required under Chapter 39, Education Code, or 
was a license, certificate, permit, seal, title, letter of patent, 
or similar document issued by government, by another state, or by 
the United States, unless the actor's intent is to defraud or harm 
another, in which event the offense is a felony of the second 
degree.
		(3)  An offense under this section is a Class C 
misdemeanor if it is shown on the trial of the offense that the 
governmental record is a governmental record that is required for 
enrollment of a student in a school district and was used by the 
actor to establish the residency of the student.
	SECTION 2.  Section 25.001(b), Education Code, is amended to 
read as follows:
	(b)  The board of trustees of a school district or its 
designee shall admit into the public schools of the district free of 
tuition a person who is over five and younger than 21 years of age on 
the first day of September of the school year in which admission is 
sought if:
		(1)  the person and either parent of the person reside 
in the school district;
		(2)  the person does not reside in the school district 
but a parent of the person resides in the school district and that 
parent is a joint managing conservator or the sole managing 
conservator or possessory conservator of the person;
		(3)  the person and the person's guardian or other 
person having lawful control of the person under a court order 
reside within the school district;
		(4)  the person has established a separate residence 
under Subsection (d);  
		(5)  the person is homeless, as defined by 42 U.S.C. 
Section 11302, regardless of the residence of the person, of either 
parent of the person, or of the person's guardian or other person 
having lawful control of the person;
		(6)  the person is a foreign exchange student placed 
with a host family that resides in the school district by a 
nationally recognized foreign exchange program, unless the school 
district has applied for and been granted a waiver by the 
commissioner under Subsection (e);
		(7)  the person resides at a residential facility 
located in the district; [or]
		(8)  the person resides in the school district and is 18 
years of age or older or the person's disabilities of minority have 
been removed; or
		(9)  the person does not reside in the school district 
but the grandparent of the person:
			(A)  resides in the school district; and                              
			(B)  provides a substantial amount of 
after-school care for the person as determined by the board.
	SECTION 3.  Section 37.10(c), Penal Code, as amended by this 
Act, applies only to an offense committed on or after the effective 
date of this Act.   An offense committed before the effective date 
of this Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was 
committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that 
purpose.  For purposes of this section, an offense was committed 
before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense 
was committed before that date.
	SECTION 4.  Section 25.001(b), Education Code, as amended by 
this Act, applies beginning with the 2005-2006 school year.
	SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives 
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as 
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this 
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this 
Act takes effect September 1, 2005.