College Background Check Bill Moves through Legislature

AUSTIN — An East Texas-linked bill that allows for background checks for some college students sailed through the Senate and now moves to the Texas House. State Senator Tommy Williams’s legislation would give state colleges and universities the ability to check DPS files to find out whether students who want to live in on campus housing face pending charges. Williams says, “The reason for this is pretty straightforward. We had crimes that were committed on several of our campuses that happened to be at Blinn College and Kilgore College. One was a sexual assault.” Others included burglary in a dorm, and the suspect had a history of that crime. Williams says now all schools can do is check a public website. A similar bill died in the House in 2011.