Gerdes Bill Bans Tails At School, Fines Up To $25K

The text as introduced · 1,994 words

By: Gerdes
H.B. No. 54

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the display of and allowance for non-human behaviors in

Texas schools.

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

SECTION 1. This bill may be referred to as the Forbidding

Unlawful Representation of Roleplaying in Educational Spaces or

F.U.R.R.I.E.S. Act.

SECTION 2. Section 31.007, Education Code, is amended by

amending Subsections (a) and (b) 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, 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;

(D) a disability that substantially impairs the

student's capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of the student's

conduct;

(E) a student's status in the conservatorship of

the Department of Family and Protective Services; or

(F) a student's status as a student who is

homeless;

(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;

(8) provide, as appropriate for students at each grade

level, methods, including options, for:

(A) managing students in the classroom, 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; [ and ]

(9) include an explanation of the provisions regarding

refusal of entry to or ejection from district property under

Section 37.105, including the appeal process established under

Section 37.105(h) ; and

(10) prohibit any non-human behavior by a student,

including presenting himself or herself, on days other than exempt

days, as anything other than a human being .

(b) In this section:

(1) "Bullying" has the meaning assigned by Section

37.0832.

(2) "Harassment" means threatening to cause harm or

bodily injury to another student, engaging in sexually intimidating

conduct, causing physical damage to the property of another

student, subjecting another student to physical confinement or

restraint, or maliciously taking any action that substantially

harms another student's physical or emotional health or safety.

(3) "Hit list" means a list of people targeted to be

harmed, using:

(A) a firearm, as defined by Section 46.01(3),

Penal Code;

(B) a knife, as defined by Section 46.01(7),

Penal Code; or

(C) any other object to be used with intent to

cause bodily harm.

(4) "Student who is homeless" has the meaning assigned

to the term "homeless children and youths" under 42 U.S.C. Section

11434a.

(5) "Exempt day" means:

(A) Halloween, or any singular school day within

one calendar week of Halloween, as designated by the school

district or school campus as a "Halloween Day";

(B) school dress-up or activity days on which

students are encouraged to wear costumes and garments that are

otherwise different from the district or school's normally accepted

dress code, provided that:

(i) there are not more than five such days

in a school year;

(ii) the theme is based on an era in human

history, a specific holiday, or a specific school event; and

(iii) the theme of the day is not solely or

primarily related to the history or celebration of a biological or

artificial species other than homo sapiens; and

(C) a day that the student must rehearse,

perform, or attend an event that would otherwise require the

student to dress in costume if the student is a school mascot or is

involved in district funded or sponsored theatre organization.

(6) "Non-Human Behavior" means any type of behavior or

accessory displayed by a student in a school district other than

behaviors or accessories typically displayed by a member of the

homo sapiens species including:

(A) using a litter box for the passing of stool,

urine, or other human byproducts;

(B) a personal or outward display, except during

a school play or by a school mascot, through surgical or superficial

means of features that are non-human such as:

(i) tails;

(ii) leashes, collars, other accessories

designed for pets;

(iii) fur, other than naturally occurring

human hair or a wig made to look like human hair;

(iv) artificial, animal-like ears; or

(v) other physiological features that have

not historically been assigned to the homo sapiens species through

a means of natural biological development;

(C) barking, meowing, hissing, or other animal

noises that are not human speech; and

(D) licking oneself or others for the purpose of

grooming or maintenance.

(7) "Human being" means a biological entity that

belongs to the species homo sapien.

SECTION 3. Section 37.002, Education Code, is amended by

adding Subsection (f) to read as follows:

(f) Limiting a student to engaging only in human behaviors

is not a violation of this section.

SECTION 4. Subchapter Z, Chapter 25, Education Code, is

amended by adding Section 29.905 to read as follows:

Sec. 25.905. PROHIBITION ON CERTAIN NON-HUMAN ACTIVITIES

AND BEHAVIORS. (a) "Exempt day" and "Human being" have the

definitions provided in Section 37.001.

(b) A student has an obligation to learn, grow, and advance

as a human child. A student may not, during school hours, a planned

district activity, or on school property:

(1) engage in any non-human behaviors as defined by

Chapter 37.001 (6) Education Code; or

(2) present himself or herself, on days other than

exempt days, as anything other than a human being.

(c) A student or group of students may not create an

organization under Subchapter E, Chapter 25, Education Code, for

the purposes of circumventing the regulations in this chapter

unless the organization is federally recognized.

SECTION 5. Subdivision 261.001(1), Family Code, is amended

to read as follows:

(1) "Abuse" includes the following acts or omissions

by a person:

(A) mental or emotional injury to a child that

results in an observable and material impairment in the child's

growth, development, or psychological functioning , including, in

an education setting, allowing or encouraging the child to develop

a dependance on or a belief that non-human behaviors are societally

acceptable ;

(B) causing or permitting the child to be in a

situation in which the child sustains a mental or emotional injury

that results in an observable and material impairment in the

child's growth, development, or psychological functioning;

(C) physical injury that results in substantial

harm to the child, or the genuine threat of substantial harm from

physical injury to the child, including an injury that is at

variance with the history or explanation given and excluding an

accident or reasonable discipline by a parent, guardian, or

managing or possessory conservator that does not expose the child

to a substantial risk of harm;

(D) failure to make a reasonable effort to

prevent an action by another person that results in physical injury

that results in substantial harm to the child;

(E) sexual conduct harmful to a child's mental,

emotional, or physical welfare, including conduct that constitutes

the offense of continuous sexual abuse of young child or disabled

individual under Section 21.02, Penal Code, indecency with a child

under Section 21.11, Penal Code, sexual assault under Section

22.011, Penal Code, or aggravated sexual assault under Section

22.021, Penal Code;

(F) failure to make a reasonable effort to

prevent sexual conduct harmful to a child;

(G) compelling or encouraging the child to engage

in sexual conduct as defined by Section 43.01, Penal Code,

including compelling or encouraging the child in a manner that

constitutes an offense of trafficking of persons under Section

20A.02(a)(7) or (8), Penal Code, solicitation of prostitution under

Section 43.021, Penal Code, or compelling prostitution under

Section 43.05(a)(2), Penal Code;

(H) causing, permitting, encouraging, engaging

in, or allowing the photographing, filming, or depicting of the

child if the person knew or should have known that the resulting

photograph, film, or depiction of the child is obscene as defined by

Section 43.21, Penal Code, or pornographic;

(I) the current use by a person of a controlled

substance as defined by Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code, in a

manner or to the extent that the use results in physical, mental, or

emotional injury to a child;

(J) causing, expressly permitting, or

encouraging a child to use a controlled substance as defined by

Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code;

(K) causing, permitting, encouraging, engaging

in, or allowing a sexual performance by a child as defined by

Section 43.25, Penal Code;

(L) knowingly causing, permitting, encouraging,

engaging in, or allowing a child to be trafficked in a manner

punishable as an offense under Section 20A.02(a)(5), (6), (7), or

(8), Penal Code, or the failure to make a reasonable effort to

prevent a child from being trafficked in a manner punishable as an

offense under any of those sections; or

(M) forcing or coercing a child to enter into a

marriage.

SECTION 6. Section 26.011, Education Code, is amended by

adding Subsections (c), (d), (e), and (f) to read as follows:

(c) A complainant who has a reasonable belief that a school

or school district or an employee of the school or school district

is committing a violation of Section 29.9051 or Section 21.0031(g),

Education Code, or Section 21.006(1), Education Code if the

violation is covered by Section 261.001(A), Family Code, may also

choose to file a complaint with the attorney general.

(d) If the attorney general determines that a school

district, or an employee of the district named in a complaint

received under Subsection (c) is violating this chapter, the

attorney general may file a petition for a writ of mandamus to

compel the governmental entity to comply with this chapter.

(e) A mandamus action under Subsection (d) must be filed in:

(1) the county in which the school or school district

is primarily located in; or

(2) Travis County if the school or school district is

an entity primarily operated by a statewide organization.

(f) If the attorney general finds an educator, education

administrator, school support staff, or a contractor who operates

for the school district in a role similar to a an educator,

education administrator, or school support staff in violation of

21.0031(g) Education Code, or 21.006(1) Education Code if the

violation is covered by Section 261.001(A) Family Code, the

attorney general may levy a fine against the district not to exceed

$10,000 for a first violation or $25,000 for any subsequent

violations.

SECTION 7. 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, 2025.