Texas Senate bill by Sen. King mandates consideration of antisemitism in student discipline cases

Passed bill authored by State Sen. Phil King seeks to ensure public schools and higher education institutions consider antisemitism when disciplining students, aiming to address potential bias in conduct evaluations, according to the Texas Legislature website.

In the Senate, nine Democrats and 20 Republicans voted in favor of the bill, while two Democrats opposed it.

Meanwhile, in the House, 47 Democrats and 82 Republicans voted in favor, while eight Democrats voted against it.

Phil King introduced the bill in the Texas Senate on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, ahead of the official start of the 89th regular legislative session on Jan. 14, 2025.

King graduated from Dallas Baptist University in 1981 with a BA and again in 1993 from Texas A&M University School of Law with a JD.

King, a Republican, was elected to the Texas State Senate in 2023 to represent the state’s 10th Senate district, replacing previous state senator Beverly Powell.

According to the Texas Legislature, the bill’s official text was summarized as follows: ‘Relating to the procedure for determining whether a student’s violation of a public school’s or public institution of higher education’s student code of conduct was motivated by antisemitism’.

The following is our breakdown, based on the actual bill text, and may include interpretation to clarify its provisions.

In essence, the bill mandates that when a public school district or institution of higher education in Texas disciplines a student for violating the student code of conduct, and the behavior may have been motivated by antisemitism, the institution must consider the definition of antisemitism as outlined in Section 448.001 of the Government Code, including its referenced examples. This requirement applies to school districts and open-enrollment charter schools, as well as public institutions of higher education. The expectation is to help determine whether antisemitism played a role in the student’s conduct. These provisions will be applicable starting with the 2025-26 school or academic year, and the bill’s effective date is immediate upon receiving a two-thirds majority vote from both legislative houses, or else set for Sept. 1, 2025.

The bill was co-authored by Sen. César Blanco (Democrat – District 29) and Sen. Tan Parker (Republican – District 12).

The bill received its final legislative approval on Wednesday, May 7, and was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday, May 20.

Bills in Texas go through a multi-step legislative process, including committee review, debates, and votes in both chambers before reaching a final decision. Each session, there are typically thousands of bills introduced, but only a portion successfully navigate the process to become law.

You can read more about the bills and other measures here.