Several law changes take effect with new year

By JIM VERTUNO - The Associated Press - Sat, Dec. 29, 2007
AUSTIN -- From Texas classrooms to investment in Sudan, the new year means that new state laws and programs are going into effect.

After Tuesday, Texas teachers will be required to start submitting fingerprints for criminal background checks. Two state pension funds will be required to divest from companies doing business with the Sudanese government, and law enforcement will soon have a new tool to catch uninsured motorists.

Teacher fingerprints

In the classroom, the Texas Education Agency will begin selecting school districts at random and giving educators 80 days to be fingerprinted for criminal background checks.

Texas began requiring national criminal background checks for all teaching candidates in 2003, but that law did not apply to teachers who were already certified. Since those checks began, almost 200 candidates have been found to have serious offenses on their records.

The new law requires all certified teachers to be fingerprinted by Sept. 1, 2011. Other school employees, such as janitors and cafeteria workers, will be required to complete the process at the time of their hire.

Pension divestments

State lawmakers ordered the pension funds for retired teachers and retired state employees to divest from certain international companies doing business with Sudan.

The United States has declared the killings of more of 200,000 people in the African nation since 2003 to be genocide and has largely blamed Sudan and government-backed militias.

Supporters of the effort have said it could result in a $500 million divestment by the two funds, which are worth more than $120 billion combined.

Uninsured motorists

The Texas Department of Public Safety and state insurance officials are working on a database that will allow officers to know immediately whether a driver who's been pulled over has insurance.

Insurance companies are required to submit lists of Texas customers, with weekly updates. An estimated 15 percent to 20 percent of drivers in Texas don't have valid insurance, and drivers can be ticketed $175 to $350 the first time they're caught without a policy.

The launch of the Texas Financial Responsibility Verification program may be pushed back to February.
Read more in the Fort Worth Star Telegram