BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 3741

By: Shofner

Higher Education

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The bill author has informed the committee that foreign agents have been caught attending and working at the state's institutions of higher education on multiple occasions and that students and faculty have been caught stealing research and technology and giving them to foreign governments. The bill author has informed the committee of a specific incident involving a student from China at Duke who studied in a lab researching metamaterials used to create something they referred to as an "invisibility cloak" and took pictures of the lab and measurements of some of the lab equipment and brought the information back to China, where shortly thereafter an almost identical replica was created. C.S.H.B. 3741 seeks to require students and employees of public institutions of higher education who are not U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents to submit a statement certifying that the student or employee is not a foreign agent of a foreign government, quasi government, or terrorist organization hostile to the United States or Texas.

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 Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in SECTION 1 of this bill.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 3741 amends the Education Code to require a public institution of higher education to require a student enrolled at or employee of the institution who is not a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States to sign and submit to the institution a statement certifying that the student or employee is not a foreign agent of a foreign government, quasi government, or terrorist organization hostile to the United States or Texas. The sworn statement must include language specified by the bill affirming that the individual is not such a foreign agent. The bill authorizes the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to adopt rules as necessary for the administration of the bill's provisions.

C.S.H.B. 3741 defines "foreign agent" as a person who intends to retrieve information, research, technology, materials, or other physical or intellectual property on behalf of a foreign government, quasi government, or terrorist organization. The bill's provisions apply to a student enrolled at or employee of a public institution of higher education regardless of whether the student or employee was enrolled at or hired by the institution before, on, or after the bill's effective date.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2025.

COMPARISON OF INTRODUCED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 3741 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 revises the introduced version of requirements relating to a public institution of higher education requiring a student enrolled at or employee of the institution who is not a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States to sign and submit to the institution a specified sworn statement by doing the following:

· changing the description of the required statement from a statement certifying that the student or employee is not an agent of a foreign adversary to a statement certifying that the student or employee is not a foreign agent of a foreign government, quasi government, or terrorist organization hostile to the United States of America or Texas; and

· replacing the requirement for the statement to include specified language affirming that the signatory is not an agent of a foreign nation hostile to the United States or Texas with the requirement for the statement to include specified language affirming that the signatory is not a foreign agent of a foreign government, quasi government, or terrorist organization hostile to the United States or Texas.

The substitute includes a definition of "foreign agent," whereas the introduced did not define that term.