Focus Report, Volume 87, Number 5, January 10, 2022 Page: PAGE20
This periodical is part of the collection entitled: Texas State Publications and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.
- Highlighting
- Highlighting On/Off
- Color:
- Adjust Image
- Rotate Left
- Rotate Right
- Brightness, Contrast, etc. (Experimental)
- Cropping Tool
- Download Sizes
- Preview all sizes/dimensions or...
- Download Thumbnail
- Download Small
- Download Medium
- Download Large
- High Resolution Files
- IIIF Image JSON
- IIIF Image URL
- Accessibility
- View Extracted Text
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Page 20 House Research Organization
Revising hazing reporting requirements,
creating higher ed mental health services
task force
SB 36 by Zaffirini (C. Turner)
DigestResponse
SB 36 would have added peace officers or law
enforcement agencies to the entities to whom one could
report knowledge of a hazing incident to avoid committing
an offense and would have repealed the requirement that
the report be in writing. The bill would have included
an entity organized to support an organization in the
definition of a person who could receive immunity from
civil or criminal liability that might otherwise result from
a reported hazing incident if the person reported the
incident under certain circumstances.
SB 36 also would have established a higher education
mental health services task force under the direction of
the commissioner of higher education to perform certain
functions related to the mental health needs of students,
including students who had experienced hazing. The task
force would have been required to report on its activities
by December 1, 2024, and would have been abolished
September 1, 2025.
Governor's reason for veto
"Hazing on campus is a serious problem that deserves
serious attention, which is why I signed Senate Bill 38
into law last session. This session's Senate Bill 36 was a
worthy effort to further clarify the anti-hazing statute,
until the House sponsor added an unnecessary provision
that would simply grow government by creating yet
another new task force. It is important to ensure that
students receive mental-health services, and Texas's existing
agencies and institutions can already study the issues that
would be addressed by this vast new bureaucratic entity.
Unfortunately, the Senate author's good idea to clean up a
statute has been undercut by the House sponsor."Sen. Judith Zaffirini, the bill's author, said: "I am
thankful that the governor signed my hazing bill, SB 38,
in 2019 and wish he would have signed SB 36 to further
improve its provisions. The amendment that caused the
governor's veto was the addition of my SB 1521, relating
to creating a mental health task-force to study mental
health services provided at institutions of higher education,
which the Senate passed overwhelmingly.
"SB 1521 would have allowed us to research the
capacity of institutions of higher education in Texas to
identify and address the mental health needs of students
and explore innovative and effective approaches to
this issue. Without a centralized task force that studies
these issues to develop best practices, Texas students
will continue to have disparate access to mental health
services.
Rep. Chris Turner, the House sponsor, said: "The
importance of SB 36 is evidenced by its strong bipartisan
support. The bill's language was passed out of committee
with unanimous support, and once the final version of
SB 36 was passed out of the House 97 to 49, it passed the
Senate 31 to zero before heading to the governor's desk.
It is extremely disappointing that the governor chose to
ignore the will of both chambers of the Legislature and the
needs of college students across the state by vetoing SB 36.
"Gov. Abbott's stated reason for the veto is his
concern that SB 36 'would simply grow government,'
but that is certainly at odds with his decision to sign
HB 2287 this session, a valuable bill which expanded
the scope and authority of the Collaborative Task Force
on Public School Mental Health Services - the public
education counterpart to the task force which would havePage 20
House Research Organization
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Matching Search Results
View six pages within this issue that match your search.Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Periodical.
Texas. Legislature. House of Representatives. Research Organization. Focus Report, Volume 87, Number 5, January 10, 2022, periodical, January 10, 2022; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1543870/m1/20/?q=%22~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.