BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 121

By: King

Public Education

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The 88th Legislature passed H.B. 3 to address safety and security measures for public schools across the state. The bill author has informed the committee that following implementation, several district representatives have recommended that the legislature act to strengthen these measures. C.S.H.B. 121 seeks to improve public school safety by authorizing the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to commission peace officers and requiring TEA to submit a statewide vulnerability assessment report. Among other provisions, the bill revises certain district requirements relating to armed security officers and multihazard emergency operations plans.

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

C.S.H.B. 121 revises provisions relating to school safety and security, including provisions relating to the protection of school buildings and grounds and certain safety and security requirements, and authorizes the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to commission peace officers.

Texas Education Agency Peace Officers

C.S.H.B. 121 amends the Education Code to authorize TEA to commission as a peace officer, for purposes of enforcing statutory provisions relating to the protection of school buildings and grounds, an employee who has been certified as qualified to be a peace officer by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. The bill grants such a commissioned employee the powers, privileges, and immunities of a peace officer while carrying out those duties.

C.S.H.B. 121 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to make a conforming change relating to this authorization.

Armed Security Officer Requirement

C.S.H.B. 121 amends the Education Code to revise provisions relating to the alternative standard developed by a public school district's board of trustees as a condition of claiming a good cause exception to the requirements to determine the appropriate number of armed security officers for each district campus and to ensure the presence of at least one armed security officer during regular school hours at each campus. The bill gives the option for the employee or other person acting as a security officer as part of an alternative standard to complete certain training as an alternative to the requirement to complete school safety training provided by a qualified handgun instructor certified in school safety. Such training must be deemed appropriate by the district, in consultation with the district's police department, or, if the district does not have a police department, a local law enforcement agency, and must include the following:

·active shooter response, which must be provided by an instructor certified by the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center at Texas State University‑‑San Marcos;

·school safety and emergency management;

·crisis intervention;

·incident command;

·first aid administration;

·mental health; and

·qualifications relating to the carrying or use of a firearm.

The bill requires such an employee or person to complete the training not later than the 180th day after the date on which the employee or person begins duties as a security officer.

C.S.H.B. 121 sets the good cause exception to expire on the first anniversary of the date it was claimed by the board and requires the board, on the expiration of the exception, to reevaluate whether the board is able to comply with the armed security officer requirements. If unable to comply, the board must renew the claim for an exception and renew the alternative standard developed by the board as a condition of claiming the exception.

Multihazard Emergency Operations Plans; Safety and Security Audit

C.S.H.B. 121 revises provisions relating to a public school district's or public junior college district's multihazard emergency operations plan as follows:

·specifies that substitute teachers provided for under such a plan are public school district substitute teachers;

·replaces relevant local law enforcement agencies with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) with respect to the entities with which the Texas School Safety Center (TxSSC) must consult in establishing other requirements that a plan must include;

·requires the TxSSC to provide to the superintendent of each public school district and to the president of each public junior college district notice of such requirements applicable to the districts;

·requires a public school district's plan to include provisions, as determined by TEA, for ensuring the safety of students, staff, and spectators during extracurricular activities sponsored or sanctioned by the district; and

·clarifies that a public school district's plan must include certification that the district is in compliance with statutory provisions requiring a district or open-enrollment charter school to provide to specified entities an emergency response map and an opportunity for a walk-through of each district campus and school building.

The bill requires each public school district and each public junior college district to maintain a copy of the safety and security audit report the districts are required to provide to the TxSSC.

Vulnerability Assessment Report

C.S.H.B. 121 requires TEA, not later than December 31 of each year, to prepare and submit to the governor, the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the house of representatives, and each standing committee of each house of the legislature with primary jurisdiction over primary and secondary education, finance, and appropriations a report that includes the deidentified results of the vulnerability assessments and intruder detection audits conducted under applicable state law during the preceding year. The report must include recommendations and possible corrective actions for specific deficiencies in campus security identified at multiple districts and charter schools.

Threat Assessment

C.S.H.B. 121 requires a threat assessment and safe and supportive school team conducting a threat assessment on a student in a special education program to include at least one of the following persons who has specific knowledge of the student's disability and the disability's manifestations:

·a special education teacher who provides instruction to the student;

·a licensed behavior analyst;

·a licensed clinical or master social worker; or

·a licensed specialist in school psychology.

The bill revises the requirement for a superintendent to immediately attempt to inform the parent or person standing in parental relation to a student determined by the team to pose a serious risk of violence to self or others of that determination by requiring the team instead to immediately attempt to inform the parent or person of the team's determination.

Texas School Safety Center

C.S.H.B. 121 expands the composition of the TxSSC board of directors to include a public junior college administrator appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate and sets the term of that board member to expire on February 1 of each even-numbered year. The bill requires the governor to appoint the new member not later than February 1, 2026.

C.S.H.B. 121 repeals the requirement for the TxSSC to periodically provide a school safety and security progress report to the governor, the legislature, the State Board of Education (SBOE), and TEA.

Firearm Storage

C.S.H.B. 121 revises the requirement for each district and charter school to provide information and other resources regarding the safe storage of firearms to the parent or guardian of each student enrolled in the district or charter school by specifying that such information must be provided at least three times each school year.

Facility Safety and Security Requirements

C.S.H.B. 121 does the following with respect to the authorization for a district unable to bring a district facility into compliance with a school facilities standard related to safety and security to claim a good cause exception to the requirement to comply with that standard:

·sets the exception to expire on the fifth anniversary of the date it was claimed by the district; and

·requires the district, on the expiration of the exception, to reevaluate whether the district is able to comply with each school facility standard related to safety and security.

If unable to comply, the district must renew the claim for an exception and renew the alternative standard developed by the district as a condition of claiming the exception.

School Safety Allotment

C.S.H.B. 121 includes the following among the authorized uses of funds allocated under the school safety allotment:

·costs associated with interior door and window safety and security upgrades, for the purpose of securing school facilities; and

·costs associated with providing behavioral interventionists and individuals trained in discipline management practices, for the purposes of prevention, identification, and management of emergencies and threats using evidence-based, effective prevention practices.

School Safety Meetings

C.S.H.B. 121 amends the Local Government Code to revise the requirement for the sheriff of a county with a total population of less than 350,000 in which a public school is located to call and conduct semiannual school safety meetings as follows:

·changes the requirement to apply to a county with a total population of less than 350,000 in which a district or charter school is located;

·changes the specified frequency of those meetings from semiannual to at least twice each calendar year and not less than three months apart;

·clarifies the requirement for meetings held by the sheriff of an applicable county in which more than one district or charter school is located by replacing the specification that the sheriff is only required to hold one semiannual meeting with the specification that the sheriff may discuss school safety policies for more than one district or charter school in a school safety meeting; and

·expressly does not require districts or charter schools located within the same county to adopt the same school safety policies.

Repealer

C.S.H.B. 121 repeals Section 37.2161, Education Code.

Procedural Provision

C.S.H.B. 121 applies beginning with the 2025-2026 school year. To the extent of any conflict, the bill prevails over another act of the 89th Legislature, Regular Session, 2025, relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted codes.

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. 121 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 includes provisions absent from the introduced establishing an option for an employee or other person acting as a security officer to complete specified training as an alternative to the otherwise required school safety training provided by a qualified handgun instructor certified in school safety, for purposes of an alternative security standard developed by a district board. The substitute changes the expiration date of an exception from certain armed security officer requirements by a district board from the fifth anniversary of the date the exception is claimed, as was provided in the introduced, to the first anniversary of that date.

The substitute includes the following provisions that were not present in the introduced relating to the multihazard emergency operations plan of a public school district or public junior college district:

·the specification that the substitute teachers provided for in the plan are a public school district's substitute teachers;

·a provision that replaces relevant local law enforcement agencies with the THECB as the entity with which the TxSSC must consult regarding requirements under such a plan;

·the requirement for the TxSSC to provide notice of certain plan requirements established by the TxSSC;

·the requirement for a public school district or public junior college district to maintain a copy of the safety and security audit conducted by the district; and

·a clarification that the plan must include certification that a public school district is in compliance with the requirement to provide an emergency response map and an opportunity for a walk-through of certain district campuses and school buildings.

The substitute includes the following provisions that were not present in the introduced relating to a threat assessment and safe and supportive school team:

·a provision setting out the required composition of such a team conducting a threat assessment on a student in a special education program; and

·a provision changing from the district superintendent to such a team the actor who must immediately attempt to inform the parent or person standing in parental relation regarding a student determined by the team to pose a serious risk of violence to self or others.

The substitute includes provisions absent from the introduced adding a member to the TxSSC board of directors, establishing the expiration of that member's term, and setting a deadline for the governor to appoint the new member.

The substitute includes provisions absent from the introduced revising the authorized uses of funds allocated under the school safety allotment.

While both the introduced and the substitute revise provisions relating to the requirement for the sheriff of an applicable county to conduct a school safety meeting, the substitute revises the requirement to apply to a county that meets the same population criteria and in which a district or charter school, rather than a public school, as in the introduced, is located. Both versions of the bill replace the requirement for such a meeting to be held semiannually. However, while the introduced required the sheriff to call and conduct such a meeting at least twice each year, the substitute requires the sheriff to do so at least twice each calendar year, not less than three months apart. Whereas the introduced clarified that the sheriff of an applicable county in which more than one public school is located is only required to hold one meeting for all the public schools located in the county, the substitute authorizes the sheriff of an applicable county in which more than one district or charter school is located to discuss school safety policies for more than one district or charter school in the same school safety meeting and specifies that districts or charter schools located within the same county are not required to adopt the same school safety policies.

The substitute repeals a provision which required TxSSC to periodically provide a school safety and security progress report to the governor, the legislature, the SBOE, and TEA, whereas the introduced did not.