BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 2392

By: King

Public Education

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The bill sponsor has informed the committee that although Texas has implemented various measures to bolster student safety and mitigate risks from external threats, students also face internal threats related to educator and student misconduct. S.B. 2392 seeks to address underreporting of educator and student misconduct in Texas by strengthening existing reporting requirements, expanding the conduct for which reporting is required, and establishing a civil penalty for a certain failures to report.

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

S.B. 2392 amends the Education Code to include the chief administrative officer of a public or private primary or secondary school among the people the principal of the school or a person designated by the principal is required to notify if the principal has reasonable grounds to believe that certain activities occur in school, on school property, or at a school-sponsored or school-related activity on or off school property, whether or not the activity is investigated by school security officers. Additionally, the bill includes the following among the activities that trigger that notification requirement if the principal has reasonable grounds to believe they occurred in an applicable location:

· conduct that may constitute the following criminal offenses:

o trafficking or continuous trafficking of persons;

o continuous sexual abuse of a young child or disabled individual;

o indecency with a child;

o improper relationship between an educator and a student;

o invasive visual recording;

o unlawful disclosure or promotion of intimate visual material;

o unlawful production or distribution of certain sexually explicit videos;

o sexual coercion;

o unlawful electronic transmission of sexually explicit visual material;

o sexual assault or aggravated sexual assault;

o obscenity;

o sale, distribution, or display of harmful material to a minor;

o sexual performance by a child;

o possession or promotion of child pornography; or

o possession or promotion of lewd visual material depicting a child; and

· conduct that may constitute a first degree felony offense of injury to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual.

The bill requires the chief administrative officer, immediately after becoming aware that the principal or the principal's designee has failed to report the conduct as required, to notify the requisite law enforcement agency regarding the applicable conduct.

S.B. 2392 clarifies that a principal or the principal's designee must immediately provide the requisite notice of the applicable conduct immediately after becoming aware of the conduct. The bill makes a principal who fails to report or ensure the principal's designee has reported the applicable conduct not later than 48 hours after becoming aware of the conduct, or a chief administrative officer who fails to report conduct not later than 48 hours after becoming aware that the principal or the principal's designee did not report the conduct, liable to the state for a civil penalty in the amount of $1,000 for each day after the applicable 48-hour period that the principal, principal's designee, or chief administrative officer fails to report the conduct. The bill authorizes the attorney general to sue to collect the civil penalty and prohibits the principal or chief administrative officer from using state or local money of the school to pay the civil penalty.

S.B. 2392 repeals Section 37.015(c), Education Code, which establishes that a notification by a principal or the principal's designee that the principal has reasonable grounds to believe that certain activities occur in school, on school property, or at a school-sponsored or school-related activity on or off school property is not required if the person reasonably believes that the activity does not constitute a criminal offense.

S.B. 2392 applies only to conduct that occurs on or after the bill's effective date. Conduct that occurs before the bill's effective date is governed by the law in effect on the date the conduct occurred, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For these purposes, conduct occurs before the bill's effective date if any element of the conduct occurred before that date.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2025.