Close Menu
The Baylor Lariat
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn
    Trending
    • Students react to emergency alert following campus lockdown
    • Baylor shelter-in-place lifted following police pursuit of robbery suspects
    • Baylor graduate charged after killing cats with pellet gun, hanging bodies over utility lines
    • Baylor Football’s Alex Foster dies at 18
    • Board of Regents confirms budget, renovations, new leadership in May meeting
    • How facilities responds to storms, flooding in campus buildings
    • Welcome Week leaders now paid in hopes of increasing numbers
    • 5 Baylor sports storylines to look forward to in 2025-26
    • About us
      • Spring 2025 Staff Page
      • Copyright Information
    • Contact
      • Contact Information
      • Letters to the Editor
      • Subscribe to The Morning Buzz
      • Department of Student Media
    • Employment
    • PDF Archives
    • RSS Feeds
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn
    The Baylor LariatThe Baylor Lariat
    Subscribe to the Morning Buzz
    Saturday, July 5
    • News
      • State and National News
        • State
        • National
      • Politics
        • 2025 Inauguration Page
        • Election Page
      • Homecoming Page
      • Baylor News
      • Waco Updates
      • Campus and Waco Crime
    • Arts & Life
      • Wedding Edition 2025
      • What to Do in Waco
      • Campus Culture
      • Indy and Belle
      • Sing 2025
      • Leisure and Travel
        • Leisure
        • Travel
          • Baylor in Ireland
      • Student Spotlight
      • Local Scene
        • Small Businesses
        • Social Media
      • Arts and Entertainment
        • Art
        • Fashion
        • Food
        • Literature
        • Music
        • Film and Television
    • Opinion
      • Editorials
      • Points of View
      • Lariat Letters
    • Sports
      • March Madness 2025
      • Football
      • Basketball
        • Men’s Basketball
        • Women’s Basketball
      • Soccer
      • Baseball
      • Softball
      • Volleyball
      • Equestrian
      • Cross Country and Track & Field
      • Acrobatics & Tumbling
      • Tennis
      • Golf
      • Pro Sports
      • Sports Takes
      • Club Sports
    • Lariat TV News
    • Multimedia
      • Video Features
      • Podcasts
        • Don’t Feed the Bears
      • Slideshows
    • Advertising
    The Baylor Lariat
    Home»News»Baylor News

    Spate of new state laws now in effect

    webmasterBy webmasterSeptember 9, 2015Updated:September 10, 2015 Baylor News No Comments4 Mins Read
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    By Katie Grovatt, reporter

    A rush of legislation went into effect in Texas last week which may affect students. During the 84th Session of the Texas Legislature, 1,200 new Senate bills were authored for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to sign. On Sept. 1, 704 of these bills became laws.

    Among the legislation state lawmakers was “The Relationship Privacy Act,” officially making “Revenge Porn” illegal in the state of Texas. The Senate Bill 1135 criminalizes any publication of sexually explicit images of individuals online without one’s consent.

    The bill states, “A person commits an offense of unlawful disclosure of intimate images if without the effective consent of the depicted person, the person intentionally discloses visual material depicting another person with the person’s intimate parts exposed or engaged in sexual conduct.”

    If one publicly posts an intimate photo of a previous partner, without ones consent, they could receive a fine up to $4,000 or up to a one year sentence in jail.

    The primary author, Texas state Sen. Sylvia Garcia, said the bill was specifically designed to protect women. According to Garcia, there have been many cases where images are posted by an ex-partner seeking revenge and such action causes immediate and irreversible harm. In most of these cases the victim is the woman, she said.

    All eight women state senators of the state agreed with Garcia and coauthored the bill. They believe it to be an important piece of legislation for Texas women.

    Many critics agree that the language of the law needs some clarification. Policy

    strategist for ACLU of Texas, Matt Simpson, said that the bill’s language needed to be written so as not to create unintended victims.

    “Art displays could technically be considered a criminalization,” he said.

    Waco lawyers also agree with Simpson in that the law needs some clarification in order to be successful.

    “With the way it is now, it won’t last a day,” said Michel Simmer, an attorney of Simer & Tetens said.

    Simmer agrees that the law has the right objection, but needs a more thorough clarification.

    College aid was another focus point for the wave of legislation. Two state programs that contributed about $90 million annually are being defunded. These two programs, the B-On-Time loan system and the Top Ten Percent Scholarships, represented more than 26,000 student scholarships in 2013.

    The phasing out of these two programs will shift a significant financial burden to the middle class seeking higher education.

    The state legislature also downgraded the standards placed on Advance Placement Tests. State colleges are now required to accept any test score of 3 or above. Many colleges in the past, including University of Texas and Texas A&M, have only accepted a 4 on the AP tests.

    The lowered standard could potentially allow college freshmen to gain thousands of credit hours coming into college that they previously did not qualify for. Texas State Rep. John Zerwas, the main author of House Bill 1992, predicts that the looser standards could ultimately save up to $160 million in college tuition.

    Texas law has also passed several new weapon laws, some of which will go into effect over the next year. Law-abiding citizens will also no longer need a permit to carry a concealed handgun in their vehicles. The specifics of the law include the weapon being concealed, the gun holder unassociated with a criminal assembly and completely unengaged in crime.

    An attorney of the Grayson County District tells reporters that the law will not mean more guns on the street, but more good and lawful citizens protected.

    This law coincided with the new Campus Carry law that will go into effect in August 2016. This law permits college students to carry a concealed handgun on any state college in Texas. Jurisdiction will still lie within private universities, giving them the option to create their own policy regarding student handguns.

    For a complete list of the 704 laws that went into effect on Sept. 1, go to www.legiscan.com/TX.

    Baylor college campus revenge porn state laws
    webmaster

    Keep Reading

    Students react to emergency alert following campus lockdown

    Baylor shelter-in-place lifted following police pursuit of robbery suspects

    Baylor graduate charged after killing cats with pellet gun, hanging bodies over utility lines

    Baylor Football’s Alex Foster dies at 18

    Board of Regents confirms budget, renovations, new leadership in May meeting

    How facilities responds to storms, flooding in campus buildings

    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Recent Posts
    • Students react to emergency alert following campus lockdown June 27, 2025
    • Baylor shelter-in-place lifted following police pursuit of robbery suspects June 26, 2025
    About

    The award-winning student newspaper of Baylor University since 1900.

    Articles, photos, and other works by staff of The Baylor Lariat are Copyright © Baylor® University. All rights reserved.

    Subscribe to the Morning Buzz

    Get the latest Lariat News by just Clicking Subscribe!

    Follow the Live Coverage
    Tweets by @bulariat

    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn
    • Featured
    • News
    • Sports
    • Opinion
    • Arts and Life
    © 2025 ThemeSphere. Designed by ThemeSphere.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.