H.B. No. 359

	AN ACT
	relating to discipline in public schools, including the use of
	certain disciplinary methods and the prosecution of certain
	children for school-related offenses.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 37, Education Code, is
	amended by adding Section 37.0011 to read as follows:
	Sec. 37.0011.  USE OF CORPORAL PUNISHMENT.  (a)  In this
	section, "corporal punishment" means the deliberate infliction of
	physical pain by hitting, paddling, spanking, slapping, or any
	other physical force used as a means of discipline. The term does
	not include:
	(1)  physical pain caused by reasonable physical
	activities associated with athletic training, competition, or
	physical education; or
	(2)  the use of restraint as authorized under Section
	37.0021.
	(b)  If the board of trustees of an independent school
	district adopts a policy under Section 37.001(a)(8) under which
	corporal punishment is permitted as a method of student discipline,
	a district educator may use corporal punishment to discipline a
	student unless the student's parent or guardian or other person
	having lawful control over the student has previously provided a
	written, signed statement prohibiting the use of corporal
	punishment as a method of student discipline.
	(c)  To prohibit the use of corporal punishment as a method
	of student discipline, each school year a student's parent or
	guardian or other person having lawful control over the student
	must provide a separate written, signed statement to the board of
	trustees of the school district in the manner established by the
	board.
	(d)  The student's parent or guardian or other person having
	lawful control over the student may revoke the statement provided
	to the board of trustees under Subsection (c) at any time during the
	school year by submitting a written, signed revocation to the board
	in the manner established by the board.
	SECTION 2.  Section 37.0021(b), Education Code, is amended
	by adding Subdivision (4) to read as follows:
	(4)  "Law enforcement duties" means activities of a
	peace officer relating to the investigation and enforcement of
	state criminal laws and other duties authorized by the Code of
	Criminal Procedure.
	SECTION 3.  Section 37.0021, Education Code, is amended by
	amending Subsection (g) and adding Subsections (h) and (i) to read
	as follows:
	(g)  This section and any rules or procedures adopted under
	this section do not apply to:
	(1)  a peace officer [while] performing law enforcement
	duties, except as provided by Subsection (i);
	(2)  juvenile probation, detention, or corrections
	personnel; or
	(3)  an educational services provider with whom a
	student is placed by a judicial authority, unless the services are
	provided in an educational program of a school district.
	(h)  This section and any rules or procedures adopted under
	this section apply to a peace officer only if the peace officer:
	(1)  is employed or commissioned by a school district;
	or
	(2)  provides, as a school resource officer, a regular
	police presence on a school district campus under a memorandum of
	understanding between the district and a local law enforcement
	agency.
	(i)  A school district shall report electronically to the
	agency, in accordance with standards provided by commissioner rule,
	information relating to the use of restraint by a peace officer
	performing law enforcement duties on school property or during a
	school-sponsored or school-related activity.  A report submitted
	under this subsection must be consistent with the requirements
	adopted by commissioner rule for reporting the use of restraint
	involving students with disabilities.
	SECTION 4.  Section 37.124, Education Code, is amended by
	adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
	(d)  It is an exception to the application of Subsection (a)
	that, at the time the person engaged in conduct prohibited under
	that subsection, the person was a student in the sixth grade or a
	lower grade level.
	SECTION 5.  Section 37.126, Education Code, is amended by
	amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c) to read as
	follows:
	(a)  Except as provided by Section 37.125, a person commits
	an offense if the person intentionally disrupts, prevents, or
	interferes with the lawful transportation of children:
	(1)  to or from school on a vehicle owned or operated by
	a county or independent school district; or
	(2)  to or from [or] an activity sponsored by a school
	on a vehicle owned or operated by a county or independent school
	district.
	(c)  It is an exception to the application of Subsection
	(a)(1) that, at the time the person engaged in conduct prohibited
	under that subdivision, the person was a student in the sixth grade
	or a lower grade level.
	SECTION 6.  Section 42.01, Penal Code, is amended by adding
	Subsection (f) to read as follows:
	(f)  Subsections (a)(1), (2), (3), (5), and (6) do not apply
	to a person who, at the time the person engaged in conduct
	prohibited under the applicable subdivision, was a student in the
	sixth grade or a lower grade level, and the prohibited conduct
	occurred at a public school campus during regular school hours.
	SECTION 7.  The commissioner of education shall adopt rules
	as provided by Section 37.0021(i), Education Code, as added by this
	Act, as soon as practicable after the effective date of this Act.
	SECTION 8.  The change in law made by Sections 37.124,
	Education Code, 37.126, Education Code, and 42.01, Penal Code, as
	amended by this Act, applies only to an offense committed on or
	after the effective date of this Act. An offense committed before
	the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on
	the date the offense was committed, and the former law is continued
	in effect for that purpose. For purposes of this section, an
	offense was committed before the effective date of this Act if any
	element of the offense occurred before that date.
	SECTION 9.  This Act applies beginning with the 2011-2012
	school year.
	SECTION 10.  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, 2011.
	______________________________	______________________________
	President of the Senate	Speaker of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 359 was passed by the House on May 13,
	2011, by the following vote:  Yeas 84, Nays 55, 4 present, not
	voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
	No. 359 on May 25, 2011, by the following vote:  Yeas 80, Nays 64, 3
	present, not voting.
	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 359 was passed by the Senate, with
	amendments, on May 23, 2011, by the following vote:  Yeas 29, Nays
	2
	.
	______________________________
	Secretary of the Senate
	APPROVED: __________________
	Date
	__________________
	Governor