Hickland Bill Runs School Library Book Buys Through AI

The text as introduced · 876 words

89R13491 MEW-D

By: Hickland
H.B. No. 4448

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to an automated artificial intelligence review of library

material purchased by public schools; providing an administrative

penalty.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Chapter 35, Education Code, is amended by adding

Section 35.0022 to read as follows:

Sec. 35.0022. AUTOMATED ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE LIBRARY

MATERIAL REVIEW. (a) Not later than 90 days before purchasing

library material from a library material vendor, a school district

or open-enrollment charter school must ensure the material is

submitted to a third party approved by the agency to conduct an

automated artificial intelligence review of the material to

determine whether the material should be rated as sexually explicit

material or sexually relevant material.

(b) Not later than the 20th business day after an automated

artificial intelligence review is conducted under Subsection (a),

an individual employed or contracted by the third party shall

verify the results of the review.

(c) If an automated artificial intelligence review

conducted under Subsection (a) rates a library material as sexually

explicit material or sexually relevant material, the third party

must provide to the school district or open-enrollment charter

school a detailed report that contains:

(1) the specific content flagged as sexually explicit

or sexually relevant;

(2) the historical, educational, or other context in

which the content appears; and

(3) the rationale for why the material was rated as

sexually explicit or sexually relevant.

(d) A school district or open-enrollment charter school:

(1) may not purchase a library material that has been

determined to contain sexually explicit material; and

(2) must require parental consent in accordance with

Section 35.005 for a library material determined to contain

sexually relevant material.

(e) A school district or open-enrollment charter school

shall maintain documentation regarding each automated artificial

intelligence review conducted under this section.

(f) The commissioner shall adopt and post on the agency's

Internet website a list of third parties approved to conduct an

automated artificial intelligence review under Subsection (a). In

adopting the list, the commissioner:

(1) may not approve a third party that holds a

financial interest in a library material vendor;

(2) must require bias mitigation protocols and

cultural competency testing;

(3) must ensure the third party has received training

on the definitions of sexually explicit and sexually relevant

material under Section 35.001; and

(4) must require the third party to update the third

party's automated artificial intelligence review system at least

quarterly.

(g) The agency shall conduct quarterly audits of not less

than five percent of library materials submitted for review under

Subsection (a) to ensure accuracy in ratings and compliance with

the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, Section 8,

Article I, Texas Constitution, other federal and state law, and

school district and open-enrollment charter school policies. In

conducting audits under this subsection, the agency may establish

an oversight committee composed of educators, librarians, legal

experts, and community representatives to verify the accuracy of an

automated artificial intelligence review system.

(h) The agency shall remove a third party from the list

adopted under Subsection (f) if the agency's audit under Subsection

(g) determines that the third party's automated artificial

intelligence review system has less than a 95 percent rate of

accuracy in rating library material as sexually explicit material

or sexually relevant material.

(i) The agency shall assess an administrative penalty

against a school district or open-enrollment charter school that

violates Subsection (a) or (d)(1) in an amount not to exceed $10,000

for each library material acquired in violation of that provision.

(j) If, based on automated artificial intelligence reviews

and audits conducted under this section, the commissioner

determines that a library material vendor has not rated or

incorrectly rated three or more library materials in violation of

this chapter, the commissioner shall place that library material

vendor on a list posted and maintained in a conspicuous place on the

agency's Internet website. A school district or open-enrollment

charter school may not purchase library material from a library

material vendor on the list.

(k) A parent of or person standing in parental relation to a

student enrolled in a school district or open-enrollment charter

school that violates this section may bring an action for

injunctive relief against the district or school to compel the

district or school to comply with this section.

SECTION 2. Section 35.005, Education Code, is amended to

read as follows:

Sec. 35.005. PARENTAL CONSENT REQUIRED FOR USE OF CERTAIN

LIBRARY MATERIALS. A school district or open-enrollment charter

school may not allow a student enrolled in the district or school to

reserve, check out, or otherwise use outside the school library

library material the library material vendor or the automated

artificial intelligence review has rated as sexually relevant

material under Section 35.002(a) or 35.0022(a) unless the district

or school first obtains written consent from the student's parent

or person standing in parental relation.

SECTION 3. Not later than the first day of the 2026-2027

school year, the commissioner of education shall adopt the list of

approved third parties as required under Section 35.0022(f),

Education Code, as added by this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act applies beginning with the 2026-2027

school year.

SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.