By: González of El Paso, Leach, Moody, H.B. No. 129
      Capriglione
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to digital citizenship instruction in public schools.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 28.002(z), Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (z)  The State Board of Education by rule shall require each
  school district to incorporate instruction in digital citizenship
  into the district's curriculum, including information regarding
  the potential criminal consequences of cyberbullying, and require
  students enrolled in grade level six to complete instruction in
  digital citizenship as part of the district's social studies
  curriculum. In this subsection:
               (1)  "Cyberbullying" has the meaning assigned by
  Section 37.0832.
               (2)  "Digital citizenship" means the standards of
  appropriate, responsible, and healthy online behavior, including:
                     (A)  the ability to access, analyze, evaluate,
  create, and act on all forms of digital communication;
                     (B)  digital ethics, etiquette, respectful
  discourse with people who have differing opinions, safety,
  security, digital footprint, and the identification of rhetoric
  that incites violence based on a person's race, religion, or
  political affiliation;
                     (C)  cyberbullying prevention and response; and
                     (D)  the importance of the right to freedom of
  speech contained in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the
  United States, including:
                           (i)  the central role that the right to
  freedom of speech has in the history of the United States; and 
                           (ii)  the applicability of protections for
  freedom of speech for online interaction.
         SECTION 2.  This Act applies beginning with the 2021-2022
  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, 2021.