Texas · House Bill · 89th Texas Legislature, Regular Session
HB167
Texas HB 167 — Relating to the use of artificial intelligence to score constructed responses on assessment instruments administered to public school students

Status ● Introduced Effective N/A Passage Likelihood L

How Is This Bill Enforced

Enforcement Authority
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is directed to prohibit the use of AI for scoring constructed responses on state assessment instruments. The bill does not create a separate enforcement mechanism, private right of action, or penalty structure; enforcement would occur through existing TEA regulatory authority over assessment instruments and testing vendors under Chapter 39 of the Education Code.
Private Right of Action
No private right of action. Enforcement is exclusive to the designated authority.
Penalties
The bill does not specify any monetary or non-monetary remedies. Enforcement would rely on existing TEA regulatory authority.

What This Bill Requires

Verbatim statutory text on the left; plain-language analysis and a per-section checklist on the right. Numbered markers cross-link to the matching checklist row.

Statutory Text
Analysis & Obligations
Educ. Code § 39.023(s)
Prohibition on AI scoring of constructed responses
Government

(s) 1 The agency shall prohibit the use of artificial intelligence to score a constructed response on an assessment instrument administered under this section or an assessment system developed under Section 39.027(e).

This new subsection directs the Texas Education Agency to prohibit the use of artificial intelligence to score constructed responses on any assessment instrument administered under § 39.023 or any assessment system developed under § 39.027(e). The prohibition is categorical — it applies to all constructed-response scoring on covered assessments, with no exceptions for human-in-the-loop configurations, pilot programs, or particular grade levels. The bill does not define artificial intelligence or constructed response, leaving those terms to TEA interpretation and rulemaking.

Because the duty runs to the agency rather than to a private party, the obligation is best understood as a government-directed prohibition on a specific AI use case in public education assessment. Testing vendors contracting with TEA would be affected operationally, but the statutory command is to the agency itself.

Compliance actions 1 item
1
The Texas Education Agency must prohibit the use of artificial intelligence to score constructed responses on assessment instruments administered under Education Code § 39.023 or assessment systems developed under § 39.027(e).
TX HB 167, Section 2
Applicability — 2026–2027 school year

This Act applies beginning with the 2026-2027 school year.

This section establishes that the prohibition on AI scoring of constructed responses applies beginning with the 2026–2027 school year. This is an applicability provision that does not create a standalone compliance obligation.

TX HB 167, Section 3
Effective date

This Act takes effect on the 91st day after the last day of the legislative session.

The Act takes effect on the 91st day after the last day of the legislative session. This is a standard effective-date provision that does not create a standalone compliance obligation.

Passage Likelihood

Low
Status Introduced
Chamber No passage
Committee No action
Majority party Yes
Bipartisan No
Prior session None

Legislative History

2024-11-12 Filed
2025-02-27 Read first time
2025-02-27 Referred to State Affairs

Entry Last Reviewed

2026-05-20
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