BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 876

By: Allen

Public Education

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

It has been reported that school district peace officers and school resource officers have expressed a need for training to learn techniques that specifically apply to minors in a school setting. C.S.H.B. 876 seeks to address this issue by making training from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement more accessible to those officers.

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

C.S.H.B. 876 amends the Occupations Code to expand the school districts for which the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement must require a school district peace officer or a school resource officer who is commissioned by or who provides law enforcement at the district to successfully complete the model education and training program for such officers by removing the 30,000 student enrollment threshold. The bill extends the deadline by which an officer must complete the training program from before or within 120 days of the officer's commission by or placement in the district or a district campus to before or within 180 days of the officer's commission by or placement in the district or a district campus. The bill requires an officer who commences employment with or commences providing law enforcement at a school district with an enrollment of fewer than 30,000 students on a date occurring before September 1, 2019, to complete the training program as soon as practicable and not later than August 31, 2020.

C.S.H.B. 876 amends the Education Code to expand the public school districts that commission a school district peace officer or at which a school resource officer provides law enforcement and that must adopt a policy requiring the officer to complete the model education and training program by removing the 30,000 student enrollment threshold. The bill requires a district with an enrollment of fewer than 30,000 students to adopt such a training policy not later than October 1, 2019.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2019.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 876 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute changes the extended deadline by which an officer must complete the training program from not later than 180 days after the officer's commission by or placement in the district or district campus to before or within 180 days of the officer's commission by or placement in the district or district campus.