Maldonado's Bills Fare Well in House
State Representative Diana Maldonado, who campaigned as a champion for education reform in Texas, passed her first education bill last week and plans to speak on other bills to approach the floor in the near future.

House Bill 1332, which puts the fiscal responsibility of technological equipment including electronic textbooks in the hands of parents and students if educational materials are lost or returned to the school damaged, passed Thursday, according to Jon Niven, assistant to Maldonado.

The bill is intended to help save school districts money.

“It throws electronics under the same umbrella,” Niven said. “As society is moving toward a more digital arena, this is becoming more of an issue. Replacing these electronic items creates a higher fee for the schools that have to replace them.”

The bill creates a “district-by-district” change, Niven said, since some districts have full computer labs with digital equipment and others have electronic textbooks or graphic calculators students are able to take home.

Other bills Maldonado brought to the House, including HBs 1330, 1331 and 130, are expected to appear on the floor in the next few weeks. The bills require legislators to visit school campuses, limit bus evacuation training and help improve pre-Kindergarten programs.

Testimony was heard in committee Wednesday for Maldonado’s HB 2805 — a bill that will help establish revenue streams to fund the East Williamson County Higher Education Center. However, the bill will most likely be left pending until the next committee hearing, Niven said.

Maldonado’s HB 1789 was voted out of committee Wednesday morning, and will next go to the calendars committee to determine when it will appear on the floor. The bill will funnel taxes from hotel and motel occupancy into funds for local recreational parks.

HB 2806, which sets up a system to aid military veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, passed out of committee and was sent to calendars as well, Niven said.

“So far, most of Maldonado’s bills that had hearings have passed out of committee,” Niven said.