HBA-JEK H.B. 1296 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1296
By: Ehrhardt
Public Education
4/12/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Current law requires an educational institution to provide equal
opportunities to all individuals within its jurisdiction or geographical
boundaries, and prohibits an educational institution from denying services
to any individual eligible to participate in a school district's special
education program.  However, the law does not specifically prohibit an
educational institution or one of its employees from discriminating against
a student on account of ethnicity, color, gender, gender identity, sexual
orientation, disability, religion, or national origin.  The absence of such
an anti-discrimination law may make it more difficult for some students to
prove in a court of law that the discrimination they suffered was a denial
of an equal education opportunity.  House Bill 1296 prohibits a public
educational institution or one of its employees from discriminating against
a student enrolled in the institution on account of ethnicity, color,
gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, religion, or
national origin. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 1296 amends the Education Code to prohibit a public educational
institution or employee of a public educational institution from
discriminating against a student enrolled in the institution on account of
the ethnicity, color, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation,
disability, religion, or national origin of the student or the student's
parent. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act
takes effect September 1, 2001.