BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 1726

By: Allison

Public Education

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

There are concerns about the fact that there is currently no requirement for public school districts and open-enrollment charter schools to report incidents of bullying and cyberbullying that have occurred on campuses and thus no way of tracking the number of such incidents. H.B. 1726 seeks to address these concerns by requiring the number of incidents of bullying and cyberbullying to be annually reported through PEIMS.

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 rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the commissioner of education in SECTION 1 of this bill.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 1726 amends the Education Code to require the commissioner of education by rule to require each public school district and open-enrollment charter school to annually report through PEIMS the number of reported incidents of bullying that have occurred at each campus and to specify the number of incidents that included cyberbullying. The bill applies beginning with the 2021-2022 school year.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2021.