HBA-KMH S.B. 1572 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisS.B. 1572 By: West Public Education 5/20/1999 Committee Report (Amended) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, offenses of truancy or failure to attend school are tried in the justice precinct court in which the offense was committed. S.B. 1572 sets forth responsibilities for parents, legal guardians, or custodians of school-age children as they pertain to school attendance, provides expanded venue options for hearing attendance related cases, and provides penalties for violations of compulsory school attendance laws. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 1, Article 45.22, Code of Criminal Procedure, to authorize a person to be tried for truancy or failure to attend school in a justice court in any precinct in the county in which the case was referred in which a parent of an offender resides or in which the school is located, or except as otherwise provided by provisions of the Education Code or Family Code. SECTION 2. Amends Section 25.002(f), Education Code, to include a child's custodian in the list of persons eligible to enroll a child for the child to be enrolled in public school. Provides that proof that the person enrolling a child is the child's parent, guardian, or custodian, must be provided at the time of enrollment by presentation of a driver's license, social security card, or other valid legal document. SECTION 3. Amends Sections 25.093(a), (b), and (c), Education Code, to subject a parent to prosecution under this section for failure to comply with school attendance requirements after the parent receives a warning in writing regarding the parent's responsibility to ensure the child's attendance in school. Provides that a parent commits an offense if, after being previously warned as described by this section, the parent with criminal negligence fails to require the child to attend school. Deletes a provision requiring an attendance officer to warn a parent in writing immediately. Deletes text regarding unexcused voluntary absences. Deletes a provision requiring an attendance officer to refer a child to a county juvenile probation department. Makes conforming and nonsubstantive changes. SECTION 4. Amends Section 25.094(b), Education Code, to make a conforming change. SECTION 5. Amends Section 25.095(a), Education Code, to require a school district to notify a student's parent or legal guardian at the beginning of the school year that if the student is absent from school three days or parts of days within a four-week period without parental consent, rather than five times in a six-month period, or 10 days or parts of days unexcused within a six-month period, the parent, legal guardian, or student is subject to prosecution. SECTION 6. Amends Section 51.08, Family Code, by adding Subsection (d), to prohibit a misdemeanor described by Subsection (b)(1) from being construed to include truant conduct or conduct resulting in a failure to attend school. Subsection (b)(1) requires a court in which there is pending a complaint against a child alleging a violation of a misdemeanor offense punishable by fine only other than a traffic offense or public intoxication or a violation of a penal ordinance of a political subdivision other than a traffic offense to waive its original jurisdiction and refer a child to juvenile court if the child has previously been convicted of: _two or more misdemeanors punishable by fine only other than a traffic offense or public intoxication; _two or more violations of a penal ordinance of a political subdivision other than a traffic offense; or _one or more of each of the types of misdemeanors described in this subdivision. SECTION 7. Amends Section 54.021(f), Family Code, to make conforming and nonsubstantive changes. SECTION 8. Makes application of this Act prospective. SECTION 9. Effective date: August 1, 1999. SECTION 10. Emergency clause. EXPLANATION OF AMENDMENTS Amendment 1. Amends S.B. 1572 by deleting SECTION 2 and replacing it with the following: SECTION 2. Amends Section 25.002(f), Education Code, by replacing existing Subsection (f) with a new Subsection (f), to provide that a child must be enrolled by the child's parent or by the child's guardian to be enrolled in a public school, except as otherwise provided by this subsection and to require the parent or guardian, at the time of enrollment, to present a driver's license, social security card, or other valid identification. Deletes existing text of Section 25.002(f) which provides that, for a child enrolled in a public school, the child must be enrolled by the child's parent or by the child's guardian or other person with legal control of the child under court order.