Bill Text: TX SB447 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced


Bill Title: Relating to the protection of expressive activities at public institutions of higher education.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-02-14 - Referred to State Affairs [SB447 Detail]

Download: Texas-2019-SB447-Introduced.html
  86R4757 KJE-D
 
  By: Watson S.B. No. 447
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the protection of expressive activities at public
  institutions of higher education.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter Z, Chapter 51, Education Code, is
  amended by adding Section 51.9315 to read as follows:
         Sec. 51.9315.  PROTECTED EXPRESSION ON CAMPUS. (a) In this
  section:
               (1)  "Expressive activities" means any speech or
  expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment to the United
  States Constitution or Section 8, Article I, Texas Constitution,
  and includes assemblies, protests, speeches, the distribution of
  written material, the carrying of signs, and the circulation of
  petitions.
               (2)  "Institution of higher education" has the meaning
  assigned by Section 61.003.
         (b)  An institution of higher education may not:
               (1)  designate any area on campus as a free speech zone
  or otherwise create policies implying that its students' expressive
  activities are restricted to particular areas of campus; or
               (2)  restrict the right of students to engage in
  expression in a traditional public forum.
         (c)  Notwithstanding Subsection (b), an institution of
  higher education may adopt a policy that imposes reasonable
  restrictions on the time, place, and manner of expressive
  activities in the common outdoor areas of the institution's campus
  if those restrictions:
               (1)  are narrowly tailored to serve a significant
  institutional interest;
               (2)  employ clear, published, content-neutral, and
  viewpoint-neutral criteria; and
               (3)  provide for ample alternative means of expression.
         (d)  Each institution of higher education shall adopt a
  policy that:
               (1)  prohibits preventing a student from engaging in
  expressive activities because of the content or message of the
  expressive activities;
               (2)  prohibits any institution official or employee
  from preventing or disinviting a speaker from speaking at the
  institution for any reason other than a reasonable concern
  regarding a legitimate risk to campus safety; and
               (3)  establishes disciplinary sanctions for students
  or employees who persist in unduly interfering with the expressive
  activities of others on campus after being asked by an institution
  official or employee to stop the interference.
         SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
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