87(R) SB 1699 - Senate Committee Report version - Bill Text

	By:  Hughes	S.B.  No.  1699
	(In the Senate  -  Filed March  11,  2021; March  26,  2021, read
	first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
	April  14,  2021, reported favorably by the following vote:    Yeas 7,
	Nays 2; April  14,  2021, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote

	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to the protection of expressive rights of student
	organizations at public institutions of higher education.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION  1.    Section 51.9315, Education Code, is amended by
	amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (g-1) to read as
	follows:
	Sec. 51.9315. PROTECTED EXPRESSION ON CAMPUS. (a) In this
	section:
	(1)    "Benefit"  includes:
	(A)    recognition by or registration with an
	institution of higher education;
	(B)    the use of an institution of higher
	education's facilities for meetings or speaking purposes;
	(C)    the use of channels of communication
	controlled by an institution of higher education; and
	(D)    funding sources made generally available to
	student organizations at an institution of higher education.
	(2)    "Expressive activities"  means any speech or
	expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment to the United
	States Constitution or by 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. The term does not include commercial speech.
	(3)    "Expressive rights"  means the rights protected by
	the First Amendment to the United States Constitution or by Section
	8, Article I, Texas Constitution, including freedom of speech,
	freedom of the press, freedom of association, and free exercise of
	religion.
	(4) [(3)]    "Institution of higher education"  has the
	meaning assigned by Section 61.003.
	(5) [(4)]    "Student organization"  includes any
	organization that is composed mostly of students enrolled at an
	institution of higher education and that receives a benefit from
	the institution.
	(g-1)  An institution of higher education shall permit a
	student organization formed for the purpose of exercising
	expressive rights to establish and maintain membership and
	leadership qualifications for the organization that further the
	organization's purpose, including by requiring the organization's
	leaders or members to:
	(1)  adhere to or comply with the organization's:
	(A)  sincerely held beliefs; or
	(B)  sincere standards of conduct; or
	(2)  be committed to furthering the organization's
	mission or purpose.
	SECTION  2.    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, 2021.
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