Bill Text: TX HB641 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to digital citizenship instruction in public schools.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2025-03-04 - Referred to Public Education [HB641 Detail]
Download: Texas-2025-HB641-Introduced.html
| 89R2265 AMF-D | ||
| By: González of El Paso | H.B. No. 641 | |
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| relating to digital citizenship instruction in public schools. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Section 28.002(z), Education Code, is amended to | ||
| read as follows: | ||
| (z) The State Board of Education by rule shall require each | ||
| school district to incorporate instruction in digital citizenship | ||
| into the district's curriculum, including information regarding | ||
| the potential criminal consequences of cyberbullying, and require | ||
| students enrolled in grade level six to complete instruction in | ||
| digital citizenship as part of the district's social studies | ||
| curriculum. In this subsection: | ||
| (1) "Cyberbullying" has the meaning assigned by | ||
| Section 37.0832. | ||
| (2) "Digital citizenship" means the standards of | ||
| appropriate, responsible, and healthy online behavior, including: | ||
| (A) media literacy and the ability to identify | ||
| credible sources of information, including by analyzing content | ||
| created or modified by generative artificial intelligence | ||
| technology, and to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act on | ||
| all forms of digital communication; | ||
| (B) digital ethics, etiquette, respectful | ||
| discourse with people who have differing opinions, safety, | ||
| security, digital footprint, and the identification of rhetoric | ||
| that incites violence based on a person's race, religion, or | ||
| political affiliation; and | ||
| (C) cyberbullying prevention and response. | ||
| SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2025-2026 | ||
| school year. | ||
| SECTION 3. 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, 2025. | ||
