Bill Text: TX HB1479 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Enrolled

Texas House Bill 1479 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Relating to establishing a committee in certain counties to recommend a uniform truancy policy.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2)

Status: (Passed) 2013-06-14 - Effective immediately [HB1479 Detail]

Download: Texas-2013-HB1479-Enrolled.html



	H.B. No. 1479




	AN ACT
	relating to establishing a committee in certain counties to
	recommend a uniform truancy policy.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 25, Education Code, is
	amended by adding Section 25.0916 to read as follows:
	Sec. 25.0916. UNIFORM TRUANCY POLICIES IN CERTAIN COUNTIES.
	(a) This section applies only to a county:
	(1) with a population greater than 1.5 million; and
	(2) that includes at least:
	(A) 15 school districts with the majority of
	district territory in the county; and
	(B) one school district with a student enrollment
	of 50,000 or more and an annual dropout rate spanning grades 9-12 of
	at least five percent, computed in accordance with standards and
	definitions adopted by the National Center for Education Statistics
	of the United States Department of Education.
	(b) A committee shall be established to recommend a uniform
	truancy policy for each school district located in the county.
	(c) Not later than September 1, 2013, the county judge and
	the mayor of the municipality in the county with the greatest
	population shall each appoint one member to serve on the committee
	as a representative of each of the following:
	(1) a juvenile district court;
	(2) a municipal court;
	(3) the office of a justice of the peace;
	(4) the superintendent or designee of an independent
	school district;
	(5) an open-enrollment charter school;
	(6) the office of the district attorney; and
	(7) the general public.
	(d) Not later than September 1, 2013, the county judge shall
	appoint to serve on the committee one member from the house of
	representatives and one member from the senate who are members of
	the respective standing legislative committees with primary
	jurisdiction over public education.
	(e) The county judge and mayor of the municipality in the
	county with the greatest population shall:
	(1) both serve on the committee or appoint
	representatives to serve on their behalf; and
	(2) jointly appoint a member of the committee to serve
	as the presiding officer.
	(f) Not later than September 1, 2014, the committee shall
	recommend:
	(1) a uniform process for filing truancy cases with
	the judicial system;
	(2) uniform administrative procedures;
	(3) uniform deadlines for processing truancy cases;
	(4) effective prevention, intervention, and diversion
	methods to reduce truancy and referrals to a county, justice, or
	municipal court;
	(5) a system for tracking truancy information and
	sharing truancy information among school districts and
	open-enrollment charter schools in the county; and
	(6) any changes to statutes or state agency rules the
	committee determines are necessary to address truancy.
	(g) Compliance with the committee recommendations is
	voluntary.
	(h) The committee's presiding officer shall issue a report
	not later than December 1, 2015, on the implementation of the
	recommendations and compliance with state truancy laws by a school
	district located in the county.
	(i) This section expires January 1, 2016.
	SECTION 2. 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.


	______________________________	______________________________
	President of the Senate	Speaker of the House


	I certify that H.B. No. 1479 was passed by the House on April
	18, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 142, Nays 1, 2 present, not
	voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
	No. 1479 on May 24, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 145, Nays 0,
	2 present, not voting.

	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House

	I certify that H.B. No. 1479 was passed by the Senate, with
	amendments, on May 22, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays
	0.

	______________________________
	Secretary of the Senate
	APPROVED: __________________
	Date

	__________________
	Governor