BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2673

By: Hull

Youth Health & Safety, Select

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Many local education agencies (LEAs) would like to turn to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) for guidance regarding school-issued devices. Currently, TEA does not have rulemaking authority to provide guidelines or requirements to LEAs on such devices, which has led to a patchwork in LEA policies. Additionally, parents have expressed concern that they are unaware of the capabilities of school-issued devices and want to ensure they are meeting certain safety standards regarding access to content as well as to their child's data. C.S.H.B. 2673 seeks to address these issues by providing LEAs with requirements for the issuance of school devices while providing parents with a level of security about the safety of these devices. The legislation would also ensure that parents are included in certain cybersecurity measures and provide for a school or district officer to receive complaints regarding device use.

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. 2673 amends the Education Code to require the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to adopt standards for permissible electronic devices and software applications used by a public school district or open-enrollment charter school. In adopting the standards, TEA must take the following actions with respect to such devices and applications:

· minimize data collection conducted on students through those devices and applications;

· ensure direct and informed parental consent is required for a students' use of applications;

· ensure applications do not conduct mental health assessments or other assessments unrelated to educational curricula that are intended to collect information about students without direct and informed parental consent;

· ensure that parents are provided the resources necessary to understand cybersecurity risks and online safety regarding their child's use of electronic devices;

· specify periods of time during which a device transferred to a student must be deactivated in the interest of student safety;

· consider necessary adjustments by age level to the use of devices in the classroom to foster development of students' abilities regarding spending school time and completing assignments without the use of a device;

· consider appropriate restrictions on student access to social media websites or applications with a device transferred to a student by a district or charter school;

· require a district or charter school, before using a social media application for an educational purpose, to determine that an alternative application that is more secure and provides the same educational functionality as the social media application is unavailable for that educational purpose;

· consider the required use of an Internet filter capable of notifying appropriate school administrators who are then required to notify the student's parent, if a student accesses inappropriate or concerning content or words;

· assign to the appropriate officer of a district or charter school the duty to receive complaints or concerns regarding student use of devices, including cybersecurity and online safety concerns, from staff, other students, or parents; and

· provide methods by which a district or charter school may ensure an applicable operator of a website, online service, online application, or mobile application that contracts with the district or charter school to provide software applications complies with statutory provisions relating to student information protection on computers and computer-related equipment.

The bill makes existing provisions relating to the transfer of data processing equipment apply to the transfer of an electronic device and requires a district or charter school, before transferring data processing equipment or an electronic device to a student, to adopt rules establishing programs promoting parents as partners in cybersecurity and online safety that involve parents in students' use of transferred equipment or devices and, for the transfer of a device to be used for an educational purpose, to install an Internet filter that blocks and prohibits pornographic or obscene materials or applications. For purposes of the bill's provisions, the bill defines an "electronic device" as a device that is capable of connecting to a cellular network or the Internet, including certain specified types of devices, and the bill defines an "Internet filter" as a software application that is capable of preventing an electronic device from accessing certain websites or displaying certain online material. The bill's provisions apply beginning with the 2023-2024 school year.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2023.

COMPARISON OF INTRODUCED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 2673 may differ from the introduced in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute changes requirements in the introduced as follows:

· changes the requirement for TEA to ensure that parents are partners in cybersecurity to the requirement for TEA to ensure that parents are provided the resources necessary to understand cybersecurity risks and online safety regarding their child's use of electronic devices;

· changes the requirement for TEA to consider the use of an Internet filter capable of notifying parents to the requirement for TEA to consider instead the use of a filter capable of notifying school administrators who must then notify parents; and

· replaces the requirement for TEA to consider assigning the duty of receiving complaints and concerns regarding the student's use of electronic devices to a cybersecurity coordinator with the requirement for TEA to consider assigning that duty to an appropriate officer of the district or charter school.

The substitute includes provisions that were not in the introduced that do the following:

· specify that the assessments that software applications must not conduct are those that are unrelated to educational curricula;

· require a district or school, before using a social media application, to determine that no alternative application that is more secure and provides the same educational functionality is available; and

· include in the duties of an appropriate officer the duty of receiving cybersecurity and online safety concerns.