Bill Text: TX SB1515 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Comm Sub

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Relating to the display of the Ten Commandments in public schools.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 10-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2023-05-23 - Placed on General State Calendar [SB1515 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-SB1515-Comm_Sub.html

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By: King, Middleton S.B. No. 1515
(In the Senate - Filed March 3, 2023; March 16, 2023, read
first time and referred to Committee on Education; April 17, 2023,
reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 9, Nays 2;
April 17, 2023, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the display of the Ten Commandments in public schools.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 1, Education Code, is amended by adding
Section 1.0041 to read as follows:
Sec. 1.0041. DISPLAY OF TEN COMMANDMENTS. (a) A public
elementary or secondary school shall display in a conspicuous place
in each classroom of the school a durable poster or framed copy of
the Ten Commandments that meets the requirements of Subsection (b).
(b) A poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments
described by Subsection (a) must:
(1) include the text of the Ten Commandments as
provided by Subsection (c) in a size and typeface that is legible to
a person with average vision from anywhere in the classroom in which
the poster or framed copy is displayed; and
(2) be at least 16 inches wide and 20 inches tall.
(c) The text of the poster or framed copy of the Ten
Commandments described by Subsection (a) must read as follows:
"The Ten Commandments
I AM the LORD thy God.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven images.
Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the
land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor
his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is thy
neighbor's."
(d) A public elementary or secondary school in which each
classroom does not include a poster or framed copy of the Ten
Commandments as required by Subsection (a) must:
(1) accept any offer of a privately donated poster or
framed copy of the Ten Commandments provided that the poster or
copy:
(A) meets the requirements of Subsection (b); and
(B) does not contain any additional content; and
(2) display the poster or framed copy as specified in
Subsection (a).
(e) If a public elementary or secondary school has a poster
or framed copy of the Ten Commandments in each classroom that does
not meet the requirements of Subsection (b), the school may replace
the posters or copies with posters or copies that meet the
requirements of Subsection (b) using public funds or by accepting a
private donation.
(f) A public elementary or secondary school must offer a
poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments described by
Subsection (a) in the school's possession that is not needed for
display in a classroom as a donation to another public elementary or
secondary school.
SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2023-2024
school year.
SECTION 3. 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, 2023.
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