87R647 JES-F
 
  By: Harless H.B. No. 759
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the operation of threat assessment teams in public
  schools and the establishment of a student threat assessment
  database; creating a criminal offense.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 37.115, Education Code, is amended by
  adding Subsections (f-1) and (h-1) to read as follows:
         (f-1)  A team must complete a threat assessment of an
  individual as required by Subsection (f) not later than the 30th day
  after the date on which the team began the assessment.
         (h-1)  Not later than the 10th day after the date on which a
  team makes a determination that a student poses a serious risk of
  violence to self or others, the team shall:
               (1)  enter the student's threat assessment into the
  threat assessment database established under Section 37.1151; and
               (2)  make a notation in the student's cumulative record
  that the student is included in the threat assessment database. 
         SECTION 2.  Subchapter D, Chapter 37, Education Code, is
  amended by adding Section 37.1151 to read as follows:
         Sec. 37.1151.  STUDENT THREAT ASSESSMENT DATABASE. (a) The
  agency shall establish a database of student threat assessments
  conducted under Section 37.115 in which there was a determination
  that a student poses a serious risk of violence to self or others.
         (b)  The agency must allow access to the database reporting a
  student's threat assessment to:
               (1)  a peace officer or school resource officer
  assigned to a public or private primary or secondary school or
  open-enrollment charter school that the student has attended or
  currently attends; and
               (2)  the principal or principal's designee and the
  superintendent or superintendent's designee at each public or
  private primary or secondary school or open-enrollment charter
  school that the student has attended or currently attends.
         (c)  A person authorized to access the threat assessment
  database under Subsection (b) may access information in the
  database solely for the purpose of ensuring school safety and
  security. A person shall keep any information received from the
  database confidential and may not use the information for a purpose
  that does not directly relate to the purpose for which it was
  obtained.
         (d)  Information regarding a student's threat assessment
  reported in the threat assessment database must be permanently
  erased from the database on the date that the student reaches 21
  years of age.
         (e)  A person who has access to or obtains confidential
  information in the threat assessment database commits an offense if
  the person knowingly:
               (1)  uses the information for a purpose other than
  ensuring school safety and security;
               (2)  permits inspection of the confidential
  information by a person who is not authorized to inspect the
  information; or
               (3)  releases or discloses the confidential
  information to a person who is not entitled to the information.
         (f)  An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor.
         (g)  The commissioner shall adopt rules necessary to
  implement this section.
         SECTION 3.  (a) Section 37.115(h-1), Education Code, as
  added by this Act, applies beginning January 1, 2022.
         (b)  As soon as practicable after the effective date of this
  Act but not later than January 1, 2022, the commissioner of
  education shall establish the threat assessment database as
  required by Section 37.1151, Education Code, as added by this Act.
         SECTION 4.  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.