BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 1458

By: Metcalf

Public Education

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The bill author has informed the committee of the need for increased school safety and the statewide shortage of individuals who are currently authorized to serve as an armed security officer, as reported by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and KVUE News. C.S.H.B. 1458 seeks to address these concerns by expanding the eligibility to serve as a public school district armed security officer and by providing for the appointment of district reserve officers.

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. 1458 amends the Education Code to authorize the board of trustees of a public school district to authorize the chief of police of the school district police department to appoint reserve police officers for the district. The bill authorizes the board to limit the number of such appointments and establishes that a reserve police officer serves at the discretion of the chief of police of the school district police department and may be called into service at any time that the chief considers it necessary to have additional officers to preserve the peace and enforce the law.

C.S.H.B. 1458 authorizes such a police chief to authorize a reserve police officer who holds a permanent peace officer license issued under state law to carry a weapon or act as a peace officer at all times, regardless of whether the reserve police officer is engaged in the actual discharge of official duties, or to limit the authority of the reserve police officer to carry a weapon or act as a peace officer to only those times during which the reserve police officer is engaged in the actual discharge of official duties. The bill restricts the time a reserve police officer who is not appropriately licensed may act as a peace officer to only during the actual discharge of official duties.

C.S.H.B. 1458 establishes that a reserve police officer on active duty at the call of the chief of police of the school district police department and actively engaged in assigned duties has the same rights, privileges, and duties as any other peace officer of the state. The bill also establishes that such an officer, regardless of whether the officer holds a permanent peace officer license, is not, as follows:

·eligible for participation in any program provided by the agency or the board of trustees of the district that is normally considered a financial benefit of full-time employment or for any pension fund created by statute for the benefit of full-time paid peace officers; or

·exempt from the Private Security Act.

C.S.H.B. 1458 includes the following individuals among those eligible to serve as an armed security officer at a district campus:

·a reserve deputy sheriff who is appointed as such by the county sheriff and who is considered a peace officer under the Code of Criminal Procedure;

·a reserve police officer appointed under the bill's provisions who is considered a peace officer under that code; and

·an honorably retired peace officer who has kept their commission as a peace officer in active status and who has fulfilled all applicable statutory requirements relating to peace officer continuing education, active shooter response training, and weapons proficiency.

C.S.H.B. 1458 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Occupations Code to make conforming changes.

C.S.H.B. 1458 establishes that its provisions prevail over another act of the 89th Legislature, Regular Session, 2025, relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted codes, to the extent of any conflict.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2025.

COMPARISON OF INTRODUCED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 1458 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 providing for the appointment of reserve police officers for a school district police department by the department's police chief by doing the following:

·authorizing the district's board of trustees to authorize, and limit the number of, the appointments;

·establishing service requirements for the reserve officers;

·establishing circumstances under which such an officer licensed as a permanent peace officer under state law may be authorized to carry a weapon and under which an unlicensed reserve officer may act as a peace officer;

·establishing that an active duty reserve police officer has the same rights, privileges, and duties as any other peace officer of the state; and

·establishing that a reserve officer is not eligible for certain financial benefits programs as a full-time district employee or as a full-time paid peace officer and is not exempt from the Private Security Act.

The substitute includes such a reserve police officer among the individuals eligible to serve as an armed security officer at a district campus, which the introduced did not do.

The substitute includes provisions with conforming changes to the Code of Criminal Procedure and Occupations Code that were absent from the introduced.

The substitute includes a procedural provision absent from the introduced establishing that, to the extent of any conflict, the bill's provisions prevail over another act of the 89th Legislature, Regular Session, 2025, relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted codes.