HBA-MSH H.B. 1330 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1330
By: Zbranek
Public Education
4/12/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

The Public Access Initiative created by the commissioner of education was
designed to provide public education stakeholders with access to timely
information for educational planning and decision-making. The projects is
funded in part by the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund (TIF) and
supplemented with Texas Education Agency (TEA) dollars.  In recent years,
regional Education Service Centers (ESCs) have become Internet Service
Providers (ISPs) in order to offer Internet access to school districts.
The results of the project have been successful, but have created an after
the fact problem.  Internet access provided by ESCs is often open to the
general public and materials that do not relate to educational purposes are
also accessed using the Internet service provided by the center.
Independent ISPs are concerned that using TIF or TEA subsidies to create a
publically supported business constitutes unfair competition against
private ISPs.  House Bill 1330 requires centers that provide Internet
service to verify that users are students, teachers, or school personnel
and ensure that only material with a legitimate educational purpose is
accessed through the center's Internet service. 

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. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 1330 amends the Education Code to require a regional education
service center (center) that provides Internet service to public schools to
verify that each person using the Internet service is a public school
student, teacher, or employee.  The bill requires the center to ensure that
the Internet service cannot be used to gain access to materials that do not
have a legitimate educational purpose, including pornography.  The bill
also requires the center to restrict a person using the Internet service to
not more than 35 hours of use each week. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act
takes effect September 1, 2001.