89R13491 MEW-D

By: Hickland H.B. No. 4448

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to an automated artificial intelligence review of library material purchased by public schools; providing an administrative penalty.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Chapter 35, Education Code, is amended by adding Section 35.0022 to read as follows:

Sec. 35.0022. AUTOMATED ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE LIBRARY MATERIAL REVIEW. (a) Not later than 90 days before purchasing library material from a library material vendor, a school district or open-enrollment charter school must ensure the material is submitted to a third party approved by the agency to conduct an automated artificial intelligence review of the material to determine whether the material should be rated as sexually explicit material or sexually relevant material.

(b) Not later than the 20th business day after an automated artificial intelligence review is conducted under Subsection (a), an individual employed or contracted by the third party shall verify the results of the review.

(c) If an automated artificial intelligence review conducted under Subsection (a) rates a library material as sexually explicit material or sexually relevant material, the third party must provide to the school district or open-enrollment charter school a detailed report that contains:

(1) the specific content flagged as sexually explicit or sexually relevant;

(2) the historical, educational, or other context in which the content appears; and

(3) the rationale for why the material was rated as sexually explicit or sexually relevant.

(d) A school district or open-enrollment charter school:

(1) may not purchase a library material that has been determined to contain sexually explicit material; and

(2) must require parental consent in accordance with Section 35.005 for a library material determined to contain sexually relevant material.

(e) A school district or open-enrollment charter school shall maintain documentation regarding each automated artificial intelligence review conducted under this section.

(f) The commissioner shall adopt and post on the agency's Internet website a list of third parties approved to conduct an automated artificial intelligence review under Subsection (a). In adopting the list, the commissioner:

(1) may not approve a third party that holds a financial interest in a library material vendor;

(2) must require bias mitigation protocols and cultural competency testing;

(3) must ensure the third party has received training on the definitions of sexually explicit and sexually relevant material under Section 35.001; and

(4) must require the third party to update the third party's automated artificial intelligence review system at least quarterly.

(g) The agency shall conduct quarterly audits of not less than five percent of library materials submitted for review under Subsection (a) to ensure accuracy in ratings and compliance with the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, Section 8, Article I, Texas Constitution, other federal and state law, and school district and open-enrollment charter school policies. In conducting audits under this subsection, the agency may establish an oversight committee composed of educators, librarians, legal experts, and community representatives to verify the accuracy of an automated artificial intelligence review system.

(h) The agency shall remove a third party from the list adopted under Subsection (f) if the agency's audit under Subsection (g) determines that the third party's automated artificial intelligence review system has less than a 95 percent rate of accuracy in rating library material as sexually explicit material or sexually relevant material.

(i) The agency shall assess an administrative penalty against a school district or open-enrollment charter school that violates Subsection (a) or (d)(1) in an amount not to exceed $10,000 for each library material acquired in violation of that provision.

(j) If, based on automated artificial intelligence reviews and audits conducted under this section, the commissioner determines that a library material vendor has not rated or incorrectly rated three or more library materials in violation of this chapter, the commissioner shall place that library material vendor on a list posted and maintained in a conspicuous place on the agency's Internet website. A school district or open-enrollment charter school may not purchase library material from a library material vendor on the list.

(k) A parent of or person standing in parental relation to a student enrolled in a school district or open-enrollment charter school that violates this section may bring an action for injunctive relief against the district or school to compel the district or school to comply with this section.

SECTION 2. Section 35.005, Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 35.005. PARENTAL CONSENT REQUIRED FOR USE OF CERTAIN LIBRARY MATERIALS. A school district or open-enrollment charter school may not allow a student enrolled in the district or school to reserve, check out, or otherwise use outside the school library library material the library material vendor or the automated artificial intelligence review has rated as sexually relevant material under Section 35.002(a) or 35.0022(a) unless the district or school first obtains written consent from the student's parent or person standing in parental relation.

SECTION 3. Not later than the first day of the 2026-2027 school year, the commissioner of education shall adopt the list of approved third parties as required under Section 35.0022(f), Education Code, as added by this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act applies beginning with the 2026-2027 school year.

SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.