Bill Text: TX SB196 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to the development and use of instructional modules and training for public schools on the prevention of sexual abuse and sex trafficking.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-11-12 - Filed [SB196 Detail]
Download: Texas-2025-SB196-Introduced.html
| 89R3060 RDR-D | ||
| By: Menéndez | S.B. No. 196 | |
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| relating to the development and use of instructional modules and | ||
| training for public schools on the prevention of sexual abuse and | ||
| sex trafficking. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Section 28.017, Education Code, as added by | ||
| Chapter 762 (S.B. 2039), Acts of the 85th Legislature, Regular | ||
| Session, 2017, is reenacted and amended to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 28.017. INSTRUCTION ON PREVENTION OF SEXUAL ABUSE AND | ||
| SEX TRAFFICKING. (a) The commissioner, in cooperation with the | ||
| human trafficking prevention task force created under Section | ||
| 402.035, Government Code, and any other persons the commissioner | ||
| considers appropriate, shall develop one or more sexual abuse and | ||
| sex trafficking instructional modules that a school district may | ||
| use in the district's health curriculum. The modules must [ |
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| include: | ||
| (1) information on the different forms of sexual abuse | ||
| and assault, sex trafficking, and risk factors for sex trafficking; | ||
| (2) the procedures for reporting sexual abuse and sex | ||
| trafficking or suspected sexual abuse or sex trafficking; | ||
| (3) strategies for sexual abuse and assault prevention | ||
| and overcoming peer pressure; | ||
| (4) information on establishing healthy boundaries | ||
| for relationships, recognizing potentially abusive or harmful | ||
| relationships, and avoiding high-risk activities; | ||
| (5) the recruiting tactics of sex traffickers and peer | ||
| recruiters, including recruitment through the Internet; | ||
| (6) the legal aspects of sexual abuse and sex | ||
| trafficking under state and federal law; and | ||
| (7) the influence of culture and mass media on | ||
| perceptions of sexual abuse and sex trafficking, including | ||
| stereotypes and myths about victims and abusers, victim blaming, | ||
| and the role of language. | ||
| (b) The module or modules developed under Subsection (a) | ||
| must emphasize compassion for victims of sexual abuse or sex | ||
| trafficking and the creation of a positive reentry experience for | ||
| survivors of sexual abuse or sex trafficking into schools. | ||
| (c) Before the beginning of each school year, a school | ||
| district that elects to use a module developed under Subsection (a) | ||
| in the district's health curriculum shall provide written notice to | ||
| the parent of each student enrolled in the district that includes | ||
| the following: | ||
| (1) a statement that the district will provide | ||
| instruction relating to sexual abuse and sex trafficking awareness | ||
| to students enrolled in the district; | ||
| (2) a description of the material that will be used in | ||
| providing instruction to students; and | ||
| (3) a statement that the parent has the right to review | ||
| the material and remove the parent's student from the instruction. | ||
| (d) If a school district does not comply with the | ||
| requirements of Subsection (c), a parent of a student enrolled in | ||
| the district may file a complaint in accordance with the district's | ||
| grievance procedure developed under Section 26.011. | ||
| SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2025-2026 | ||
| 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, 2025. | ||
