'Cleanup' Amendment for Texas SCOPE Act Gathers House Support
Public support continued for a Texas bill that would remove private schools from the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act. During a hearing Wednesday of the House Trade, Workforce & Economic Development Committee, Rep. Jared Patterson (R) called SB-1860 a “cleanup bill,” since private schools were never intended to be included in the definition of “digital provider.” Public and charter schools were excluded in the original SCOPE, Patterson said.
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“We were very surprised to find out in the interim that private schools could be considered a digital service provider and were not exempt from SCOPE Act provisions in the way that public schools and institutions of higher education are,” said Laura Colangelo, executive director of the Texas Private Schools Association. “But since we were not the intended target of the bill," the association would welcome an exemption, she said.
Colangelo also testified in support of the measure when it was in the Senate, which passed the bill unanimously 31-0 on April 24 (see 2503310056).