By: Whitmire, West	S.B. No. 1114

	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to the prosecution of certain misdemeanor offenses
	committed by children and to school district law enforcement.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Article 45.058, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
	amended by adding Subsections (i) and (j) to read as follows:
	(i)  If a law enforcement officer issues a citation or files
	a complaint in the manner provided by Article 45.018 for conduct by
	a child 12 years of age or older that is alleged to have occurred on
	school property or on a vehicle owned or operated by a county or
	independent school district, the officer shall submit to the court
	the offense report, a statement by a witness to the alleged conduct,
	and a statement by a victim of the alleged conduct, if any. An
	attorney representing the state may not proceed in a trial of an
	offense unless the law enforcement officer complied with the
	requirements of this subsection.
	(j)  Notwithstanding Subsection (g) or (g-1), a law
	enforcement officer may not issue a citation or file a complaint in
	the manner provided by Article 45.018 for conduct by a child younger
	than 12 years of age that is alleged to have occurred on school
	property or on a vehicle owned or operated by a county or
	independent school district.
	SECTION 2.  Section 25.0915, Education Code, is amended by
	adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
	(c)  A court shall dismiss a complaint or referral made by a
	school district under this section that is not made in compliance
	with Subsection (b).
	SECTION 3.  Subsection (a), Section 37.001, Education Code,
	is amended to read as follows:
	(a)  The board of trustees of an independent school district
	shall, with the advice of its district-level committee established
	under Subchapter F, Chapter 11, adopt a student code of conduct for
	the district.  The student code of conduct must be posted and
	prominently displayed at each school campus or made available for
	review at the office of the campus principal.  In addition to
	establishing standards for student conduct, the student code of
	conduct must:
	(1)  specify the circumstances, in accordance with this
	subchapter, under which a student may be removed from a classroom,
	campus, [or] disciplinary alternative education program, or
	vehicle owned or operated by the district;
	(2)  specify conditions that authorize or require a
	principal or other appropriate administrator to transfer a student
	to a disciplinary alternative education program;
	(3)  outline conditions under which a student may be
	suspended as provided by Section 37.005 or expelled as provided by
	Section 37.007;
	(4)  specify that consideration will be given, as a
	factor in each decision concerning suspension, removal to a
	disciplinary alternative education program, expulsion, or
	placement in a juvenile justice alternative education program,
	regardless of whether the decision concerns a mandatory or
	discretionary action, to:
	(A)  self-defense;
	(B)  intent or lack of intent at the time the
	student engaged in the conduct;
	(C)  a student's disciplinary history; or
	(D)  a disability that substantially impairs the
	student's capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of the student's
	conduct;
	(5)  provide guidelines for setting the length of a
	term of:
	(A)  a removal under Section 37.006; and
	(B)  an expulsion under Section 37.007;
	(6)  address the notification of a student's parent or
	guardian of a violation of the student code of conduct committed by
	the student that results in suspension, removal to a disciplinary
	alternative education program, or expulsion;
	(7)  prohibit bullying, harassment, and making hit
	lists and ensure that district employees enforce those
	prohibitions; and
	(8)  provide, as appropriate for students at each grade
	level, methods, including options, for:
	(A)  managing students in the classroom, [and] on
	school grounds, and on a vehicle owned or operated by the district;
	(B)  disciplining students; and
	(C)  preventing and intervening in student
	discipline problems, including bullying, harassment, and making
	hit lists.
	SECTION 4.  Subsections (b), (d), and (f), Section 37.081,
	Education Code, are amended to read as follows:
	(b)  In a peace officer's jurisdiction, a peace officer
	commissioned under this section:
	(1)  has the powers, privileges, and immunities of
	peace officers;
	(2)  may enforce all laws, including municipal
	ordinances, county ordinances, and state laws; and
	(3)  may, in accordance with Chapter 52, Family Code,
	or Article 45.058, Code of Criminal Procedure, take a child
	[juvenile] into custody.
	(d)  A school district peace officer shall perform
	[administrative and] law enforcement duties for the school district
	as determined by the board of trustees of the school district.
	Those duties must include protecting:
	(1)  the safety and welfare of any person in the
	jurisdiction of the peace officer; and
	(2)  the property of the school district.
	(f)  The chief of police of the school district police
	department shall be accountable to the superintendent and shall
	report to the superintendent [or the superintendent's designee].
	School district police officers shall be supervised by the chief of
	police of the school district or the chief of police's designee and
	shall be licensed by the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer
	Standards and Education.
	SECTION 5.  Subchapter C, Chapter 37, Education Code, is
	amended by adding Section 37.085 to read as follows:
	Sec. 37.085.  ARRESTS PROHIBITED FOR CERTAIN CLASS C
	MISDEMEANORS. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a
	warrant may not be issued for the arrest of a person for a Class C
	misdemeanor under this code committed when the person was younger
	than 17 years of age.
	SECTION 6.  Subsection (a), Section 37.124, Education Code,
	is amended to read as follows:
	(a)  A person other than a primary or secondary grade student
	enrolled in the school commits an offense if the person, on school
	property or on public property within 500 feet of school property,
	alone or in concert with others, intentionally disrupts the conduct
	of classes or other school activities.
	SECTION 7.  Subsection (a), Section 37.126, Education Code,
	is amended to read as follows:
	(a)  Except as provided by Section 37.125, a person other
	than a primary or secondary grade student commits an offense if the
	person intentionally disrupts, prevents, or interferes with the
	lawful transportation of children:
	(1)  to or from school on a vehicle owned or operated by
	a county or independent school district; or
	(2)  to or from an activity sponsored by a school on a
	vehicle owned or operated by a county or independent school
	district.
	SECTION 8.  Section 52.031, Family Code, is amended by
	adding Subsection (a-1) and amending Subsections (d), (f), (i), and
	(j) to read as follows:
	(a-1)  A child accused of a Class C misdemeanor, other than a
	traffic offense, may be referred to a first offender program
	established under this section prior to the filing of a complaint
	with a criminal court.
	(d)  A law enforcement officer taking a child into custody
	for conduct described by Subsection (a) or before issuing a
	citation to a child for an offense described by Subsection (a-1) may
	refer the child to the law enforcement officer or agency designated
	under Subsection (b) for disposition under the first offender
	program and not refer the child to juvenile court for the conduct or
	file a complaint with a criminal court for the offense only if:
	(1)  the child has not previously been adjudicated as
	having engaged in delinquent conduct;
	(2)  the referral complies with guidelines for
	disposition under Subsection (c); and
	(3)  the officer reports in writing the referral to the
	agency, identifying the child and specifying the grounds for taking
	the child into custody or for accusing the child of an offense.
	(f)  The parent, guardian, or other custodian of the child
	must receive notice that the child has been referred for
	disposition under the first offender program. The notice must:
	(1)  state the grounds for taking the child into
	custody for conduct described by Subsection (a), or for accusing
	the child of an offense described by Subsection (a-1);
	(2)  identify the law enforcement officer or agency to
	which the child was referred;
	(3)  briefly describe the nature of the program; and
	(4)  state that the child's failure to complete the
	program will result in the child being referred to the juvenile
	court for the conduct or a complaint being filed with a criminal
	court for the offense.
	(i)  The case of a child who successfully completes the first
	offender program is closed and may not be referred to juvenile court
	or filed with a criminal court, unless the child is taken into
	custody under circumstances described by Subsection (j)(3).
	(j)  The case of a child referred for disposition under the
	first offender program shall be referred to juvenile court or, if
	the child is accused of an offense described by Subsection (a-1),
	filed with a criminal court if:
	(1)  the child fails to complete the program;
	(2)  the child or the parent, guardian, or other
	custodian of the child terminates the child's participation in the
	program before the child completes it; or
	(3)  the child completes the program but is taken into
	custody under Section 52.01 before the 90th day after the date the
	child completes the program for conduct other than the conduct for
	which the child was referred to the first offender program.
	SECTION 9.  Section 42.01, Penal Code, is amended by adding
	Subsection (a-1) to read as follows:
	(a-1)  For purposes of Subsection (a), the term "public
	place" includes a public school campus or the school grounds on
	which a public school is located.
	SECTION 10.  (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (b) of
	this section, the changes in law made by this Act apply only to an
	offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.  An
	offense committed before the effective date of this Act is covered
	by the law in effect at the time the offense was committed, and the
	former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For the
	purposes of this section, an offense is committed before the
	effective date of this Act if any element of the offense was
	committed before that date.
	(b)  Section 37.085, Education Code, as added by this Act,
	applies to an offense committed before, on, or after the effective
	date of this Act.
	SECTION 11.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.