BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 996

By: Taylor, Van

Public Education

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Recent tragic events prompted legislation authorizing a school district or open-enrollment charter school to employ a school marshal to take action as necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury and making the identity of a school marshal confidential. After the legislation's passage, a news outlet submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for the names of the school districts and schools that employ a school marshal. A recent attorney general opinion ordered the release of the information. Interested parties contend that releasing such information could potentially subject a marshal to physical harm and compromise the operational security of marshal programs adopted by the school districts and schools. S.B. 996 seeks to respond to these concerns.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

S.B. 996 amends the Education Code to require a school district or open-enrollment charter school, if a parent or guardian of a student enrolled at a school inquires in writing, to provide the parent or guardian written notice indicating whether any employee of the school is currently appointed a school marshal and to prohibit the notice from disclosing the identity of the marshal.

S.B. 996 amends the Occupations Code to extend the confidentiality of information collected or submitted for purposes of training and licensing of a school marshal from identifying information about a person to all information collected and submitted for such purposes.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2015.