Bill Text: TX SB595 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Relating to requiring parental consent for psychological or psychiatric examination, testing, or treatment conducted by a school district employee.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 19-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2023-05-23 - Placed on General State Calendar [SB595 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-SB595-Comm_Sub.html
| By: Kolkhorst | S.B. No. 595 | |
| (Swanson, Hefner, Buckley, Patterson, Slawson, et al.) | ||
|
|
||
|
|
||
| relating to requiring parental consent for psychological or | ||
| psychiatric examination, testing, or treatment conducted by a | ||
| school district employee. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Section 26.009, Education Code, is amended by | ||
| amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (a-1), (a-2), (a-3), | ||
| and (c) to read as follows: | ||
| (a) An employee of a school district must obtain the written | ||
| consent of a child's parent in the manner required by Subsection | ||
| (a-2) before the employee may: | ||
| (1) conduct a psychological or psychiatric | ||
| examination or[ |
||
| treatment, unless the examination, test, or treatment is required | ||
| under Section 38.004 or state or federal law regarding requirements | ||
| for special education; or | ||
| (2) subject to Subsection (b), make or authorize the | ||
| making of a videotape of a child or record or authorize the | ||
| recording of a child's voice. | ||
| (a-1) For purposes of Subsection (a): | ||
| (1) "Psychological or psychiatric examination or | ||
| test" means a method designed to elicit information regarding an | ||
| attitude, habit, trait, opinion, belief, feeling, or mental | ||
| disorder or a condition thought to lead to a mental disorder, | ||
| regardless of the manner in which the method is presented or | ||
| characterized, including a method that is presented or | ||
| characterized as a survey, check-in, or screening or is embedded in | ||
| an academic lesson. | ||
| (2) "Psychological or psychiatric treatment" means | ||
| the planned, systematic use of a method or technique that is | ||
| designed to affect behavioral, emotional, or attitudinal | ||
| characteristics of an individual or group. | ||
| (a-2) Written consent for a parent's child to participate in | ||
| a district activity described by Subsection (a) must be obtained | ||
| for each separate activity in which the child participates, and | ||
| each written consent must be signed by the parent and returned to | ||
| the district. A child may not participate in the activity unless | ||
| the district receives the parent's signed written consent to that | ||
| activity. | ||
| (a-3) Subsection (a) does not require an employee of a | ||
| school district to obtain the written consent of a child's parent | ||
| before verbally asking the child about the child's general | ||
| well-being, and for purposes of Subsections (a) and (a-1)(1), the | ||
| term "check-in" does not include such an inquiry. | ||
| (c) Nothing in this section may be construed to affect: | ||
| (1) a child's consent to counseling under Section | ||
| 32.004, Family Code; or | ||
| (2) the duty to report child abuse or neglect under | ||
| Chapter 261, Family Code, or an investigation of a report of abuse | ||
| or neglect under that chapter. | ||
| SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2023-2024 | ||
| 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, 2023. | ||
