82R19404 CAS-D

By: Gutierrez H.B. No. 3018

Substitute the following for H.B. No. 3018:

By: Eissler C.S.H.B. No. 3018

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to a policy of a school district concerning possession of a telecommunications device by a student.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 37.082, Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 37.082. POSSESSION OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS [PAGING] DEVICES. (a) The board of trustees of a school district may adopt a policy prohibiting a student from possessing a telecommunications [paging] device while on school property or while attending a school-sponsored or school-related activity on or off school property. The policy may establish disciplinary measures to be imposed for violation of the prohibition and may provide for the district to take possession [confiscation] of the telecommunications [paging] device from the student.

(b) A [The] policy adopted under Subsection (a) may provide for the district to[:

[(1)] dispose of, in any reasonable manner, a telecommunications [confiscated paging] device taken from a student [in any reasonable manner] after having provided the student's parent and any [the] company whose name and address or telephone number appear on the device 30 days' prior notice of the district's [its] intent to dispose of that device unless the device is reclaimed in accordance with this section before the end of the 30-day period.

(b-1) The notice under Subsection (b):

(1) must [shall] include the serial number of the telecommunications device;

(2) must include the location at which the device may be reclaimed;

(3) must state the date by which the device must be reclaimed;

(4) must state the administrative fee, if any, charged for reclaiming the device; and

(5) may be made by telephone[, telegraph,] or in writing, including by e-mailing written notice.

(b-2) A school district may [; and (2)] charge the owner of the telecommunications device or the student's parent an administrative fee not to exceed $15 before the district [it] releases the device.

(c) In this section, "telecommunications [paging] device" means a [telecommunications] device designed primarily for the purpose of making a phone call or of sending [that emits an audible signal, vibrates, displays] a message electronically[, or otherwise summons or delivers a communication to the possessor. The term does not include an amateur radio under the control of an operator who holds an amateur radio station license issued by the Federal Communications Commission].

SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2011-2012 school year.

SECTION 3. 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, 2011.