This website will be unavailable from Friday, April 26, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. through Monday, April 29, 2024 at 7:00 a.m. due to data center maintenance.

 
 
  By: Patrick S.B. No. 1380
 
 
 
   
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the placement of video monitoring cameras in self-
  contained classrooms providing special education services.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 26.009(b), Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (b)  An employee of a school district is not required to
  obtain the consent of a child's parent before the employee may make
  a videotape of a child or authorize the recording of a child's voice
  if the videotape or voice recording is to be used only for:
               (1)  purposes of safety, including the maintenance of
  order and discipline in common areas of the school or on school
  buses;
               (2)  a purpose related to a cocurricular or
  extracurricular activity;
               (3)  a purpose related to regular classroom
  instruction; [or]
               (4)  media coverage of the school; or
               (5)  a purpose related to the promotion of student
  safety under Section 29.022.
         SECTION 2.  Subchapter A, Chapter 29, Education Code, is
  amended by adding Section 29.022 to read as follows:
         Sec. 29.022.  VIDEO SURVEILLANCE OF CLASSROOMS. (a) In
  order to promote student safety, a school district shall provide
  equipment for a school to place a video monitoring camera in a
  self-contained classroom in which students receive special
  services.
         (b)  Before a school places a video monitoring camera in a
  classroom under this section, the school shall provide written
  notice of the placement to the parents of a student receiving
  special services in the self-contained classroom.
         SECTION 3.  This Act applies beginning with the 2013-2014
  school year.
         SECTION 4.  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, 2013.