Senate Bills-79th Legislative Session

Senate Bills Related to Early Childhood Education:

Senate Bill 23 (SB23)- Building from the work of Senate Bill 76
Author: Senator Zaffirini
Relating to subsidized child-care services and early childhood care and education program coordination. This bill would expand the Texas Early Education Model and further develop and pilot the School Readiness Rating System.
Testimony Provided to Senate Education Committee
Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 23 (CSSB23)  
Status:  Signed by the Governor on June 9, 2005; Effective September 1, 2005

Senate Bill 41 (SB41)
Author:  Zaffirini
Companion Bill: House Bill 299 (McClendon)
Relating to the right of an employee to take time off from work to participate in certain activities of the employee's child. These companion bills would allow an employee to take up to one hour in each calendar month to participate in their child’s early care and education or school activities.
Status:  Died-Left pending in Senate Business and Commerce Committee

Senate Bill 78 (SB78)
Author:  Shapleigh
Relating to a two-way developmental bilingual education pilot in certain school districts.
*This bill is not specifically related to early childhood education but is one of the areas of interest discussed in great length during the 2004 TECEC Community Meetings
Status: Died-Left pending in Senate Education Committee

Senate Bill 97 (SB97)
Author:  Shapleigh
Relating to an increase in the tax on cigarettes and to the allocation of these increases to certain quality child-care programs. This bill proposes to increase the cigarette tax by $1 per pack. The generated revenue would be appropriate to the Texas Workforce Commission in order to provide child care services for low-income families through Texas Rising Star providers.
Status: Died-Did not receive hearing in Senate Finance Committee

Senate Bill 162 (SB162)
Author: Zaffirini
Companion Bill: House Bill 509 (McClendon)
Relating to the compulsory school attendance age. These companion bills would allow a child who is at least five years old or who is younger than five years old and has previously been enrolled in prekindergarten or Kindergarten to be enrolled in public school.
Status: Died-Did not receive hearing in Senate Education Committee

Senate Bill 565 (SB565)
Author: Deuell
Relating to the posting of a list of employees in certain child-care facilities and family homes. This bill would require day-care centers, group day-care homes, and family homes to post a list of current employees in accordance with rules adopted by the executive commissioner.
Status: Signed by the Governor on June 17, 2005; Effective on September 1, 2005

Senate Bill 606 (SB606)
Author: Seliger/Van de Putte
Companion Bill: House Bill 1277 (Casteel)
Relating to limits on the size of prekindergarten classes in public schools. These companion bills would limit the size of prekindergarten, kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade classrooms to 22 students.
Status: Died-Did not receive hearing in Senate Education Committee

Senate Bill 1015 (SB1015)
Author: Deuell
Relating to minimum standards for day-care centers serving children with special needs. This bill would allow the executive commissioner to provide the required modification or waiver of minimum standards in order to effectively serve children with special care needs. For example, training requirements for caregivers, the appropriate child per caregiver ratio, safety practices, and so forth.
Status: Died-Did not receive hearing in Senate Health & Human Services Committee

Senate Bill 1376 (SB1376)
Author: Staples
Relating to the authority of a parent to designate a child-care facility or grandparent's residence for purposes of transportation provided by a public school transportation system. The committee substitute of this bill amends the Education Code from “may” to “shall” in order to ensure that a parent can designate either a child care facility or a grandparent’s residence as a transportation pick up and drop off location to and from school. The location must be along the designated transportation route.
Status: Died-Passed Senate, but never got a hearing in House Public Education Committee

Senate Bill 1388 (SB1388)
Author: Ellis
Companion Bill: House Bill 3211 (Coleman)
Relating to the availability of free prekindergarten programs in public schools. These companion bills expand the eligibility criteria for children served in the public school prekindergarten program to include all four year olds.
Status: Died-Did not receive a hearing in Senate Education Committee

Senate Bill 1773 (SB1773)
Author: Deuell
Companion Bill: HB1316 (Zedler)
Relating to immunization requirements for children in regulated child-care facilities.  This bill would require that the Department of State Health Services add pneumococcal disease to the list of diseases that each child must be immunized for prior to being served in state regulated child care facilities.
Status: Died-Did not receive a hearing in Senate Health & Human Services Committee

Last updated: 6/29/2005