Cyberbullying bill takes first step toward passage

AUSTIN — One by one, Sen. Jose Menendez read the names of Texas teenagers who had committed suicide after falling victim to cyberbullying.

The Woodlands, San Antonio, New Braunfels and Texas City, among other places.

The San Antonio Democrat then recalled the common response from police: “There wasn’t any bodily harm (from cyberbullying), so there wasn’t any crime committed.”

In a Senate Chamber hushed with emotion with relatives of several cyberbullying victims watching from the gallery, senators on Wednesday unanimously approved a change in state law to make cyberbullying a crime for the first time.

Dubbed “David’s Law” in honor of David Molak, a 16-year-old San Antonio high school student who committed suicide in January 2016 after classmates for months had mocked his appearance and threatened physical violence, Senate Bill 179 was amended by Republicans who were initially concerned the new law went too far in levying penalties and mandating new rules on school districts.

The measure will now go to the House, where strong support for passage is expected. A separate but similar bill has been approved by a House committee.

“This has become an epidemic,” Menendez said. He recalled one Texas case in which a teen, who had suffered from leukemia, was bullied online with hurtful taunts:

“You should be dead … Your cancer should come back and kill you.”

The bully then offered the youth ideas on how he should kill himself. Notify parents

In another case, the online bully sneered after a similar suggestion: “Hopefully… you will be too fat to enter Heaven.”

“In an era when bullies are on our children’s phones, they’re on our computers … I believe we have a responsibility to act before we have any more of our children take their lives,” said Menendez, the author of the bill. “We’re specifically targeting the most heinous cases.”

Noting that suicide rates among young adults are at an all-time high, other senators said Menendez’s Senate Bill 179 is a first step to bring Texas law up to speed with technology — at a time when increasing numbers of students are being threatened, harassed and tormented online.

Under the bill, harassment, bullying and cyberbullying of a public school student or minor and injury to, or death of a minor, would become a crime.

School districts would be required for the first time to include cyberbullying in their district policies on bullying and notify parents if their child has been the victim of bullying or is the alleged aggressor. Work with police

It would give schools the ability to investigate reports of cyberbullying off campus if it affects the school environment, and allows schools to work with police to curb online bullying. Students who engage in cyberbullying could be sent to an alternative education program or expelled for enticing other students to commit suicide.

Recognizing that bullying is also a mental health issue, the bill would encourage schools to invest in counseling and rehabilitation services for the victim and the aggressor, according to an official analysis of the bill.

“We must do everything we can to keep our children safe, at school and out of school,” said Sen. Donna Campbell, a New Braunfels Republican who had two cyberbullying victims in her district.

“If we can save just one life with this bill, that will be worth it.”