AUSTIN, Texas — Speaker of the Texas House Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, announced three more priorities added to the upcoming legislative session. The bills propose more funds dedicated to advancing brain health research, bettering the outcomes of youth in the state’s juvenile justice system and confronting parents’ concerns over “inappropriate” material in public school libraries.

All a part of the Texas House’s broader legislative priorities package for the 88th Texas Legislature, the bills were filed separately on Tuesday.

Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, was behind the proposal of House Bill 15, which would organize the Mental Health and Brain Research Institute of Texas. State dollars would be allocated to the institute for the enhancement of brain health research and a more comprehensive assessment of how to prevent and treat traumatic brain injuries. Also, Thompson filed House Joint Resolution 135, which would put HB 15 on the Texas ballot if approved by Legislature. So, it would be left up to voters to adopt the bill as state law.

House Bill 16 by Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, which is also referred to as the “Closer to Home bill,” would promote alternative rehabilitative resources to allow youth to be closer to their homes instead of overusing confinement facilities. This would work to slow down the admissions to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department. “The legislation, which builds on reforms the Texas Legislature passed in 2015, would enhance the court’s procedural discretion at key intercept points with the goal of keeping children as removed from the juvenile justice system as possible and expand community-based services to foster additional rehabilitative resources and incentivize diversion funding on a regional basis,” according to a news release.

Rep. Jared Patterson, R-Frisco, was responsible for House Bill 900, known as the Restricting Explicit & Adult Designated Educational Resources (READER) Act. Under this bill, book vendors with public school libraries would have to rank reading materials based on established mandatory review standards and additional parental controls. Books identified to contain sexually relevant or explicit material would need to be rated under those guidelines before sold to public schools. The bill would also mandate a yearly submission report to the Texas Education Agency on which books were sold to districts with those ratings, so they can make them available online. Parents would have to write up a consent form to allow their child(ren) access to material that falls under such ratings.

“As lawmakers, it is essential that we do everything we can to support Texas children, which starts with the state creating the best possible trajectory for our most vulnerable kids. That conversation extends to prioritizing more dedication and dollars toward better understanding mental health issues and traumatic brain injuries, and, as a parent myself, ensuring that parental involvement is present when it comes to the types of content in public school libraries,” Phelan said. “Thank you to Representatives Thompson, Moody and Patterson for filing these important measures, all of which I look forward to our chamber passing during the 88th Texas Legislature.” 

More Texas House legislative priorities will be announced in later days.