By: Parker H.B. No. 2979
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the prosecution, punishment and supervision of certain
offenders involving injury to a child, elderly individual, or
disabled individual.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Title 1, Chapter 22, Penal Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 22.04. INJURY TO A CHILD, ELDERLY INDIVIDUAL, OR
DISABLED INDIVIDUAL. (a) A person commits an offense if he
intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, or with criminal negligence,
by act or intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly by omission,
causes to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual:
(1) serious bodily injury;
(2) serious mental deficiency, impairment, or injury;
or
(3) bodily injury.
(a-1) A person commits an offense if the person is an owner,
operator, or employee of a group home, nursing facility, assisted
living facility, intermediate care facility for persons with mental
retardation, or other institutional care facility and the person
intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, or with criminal negligence
by omission causes to a child, elderly individual, or disabled
individual who is a resident of that group home or facility:
(1) serious bodily injury;
(2) serious mental deficiency, impairment, or injury;
or
(3) bodily injury.
(b) An omission that causes a condition described by
Subsection (a)(1), (2), or (3) or (a-1)(1), (2), or (3) is conduct
constituting an offense under this section if:
(1) the actor has a legal or statutory duty to act; or
(2) the actor has assumed care, custody, or control of
a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual.
(c) In this section:
(1) "Child" means a person 14 years of age or younger.
(2) "Elderly individual" means a person 65 years of
age or older.
(3) "Disabled individual" means a person older than 14
years of age who by reason of age or physical or mental disease,
defect, or injury is substantially unable to protect himself from
harm or to provide food, shelter, or medical care for himself.
(4) Repealed by Acts 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., Ch. 620,
Sec. 11, eff. September 1, 2011.
(d) For purposes of an omission that causes a condition
described by Subsection (a)(1), (2), or (3), the actor has
assumed care, custody, or control if he has by act, words, or course
of conduct acted so as to cause a reasonable person to conclude that
he has accepted responsibility for protection, food, shelter, and
medical care for a child, elderly individual, or disabled
individual. For purposes of an omission that causes a condition
described by Subsection (a-1)(1), (2), or (3), the actor acting
during the actor's capacity as owner, operator, or employee of a
group home or facility described by Subsection (a-l) is considered
to have accepted responsibility for protection, food, shelter, and
medical care for the child, elderly individual, or disabled
individual who is a resident of the group home or facility.
(e) An offense under Subsection (a)(1) or (2) or (a-1)(1) or
(2) is a felony of the first degree when the conduct is committed
intentionally or knowingly. When the conduct is engaged in
recklessly, the offense is a felony of the second degree.
(f) An offense under Subsection (a)(3) or (a-1)(3) is a
felony of the third degree when the conduct is committed
intentionally or knowingly, except that an offense under Subsection
(a)(3) is a felony of the second degree when the conduct is
committed intentionally or knowingly and the victim is a disabled
individual residing in a center, as defined by Section 555.001,
Health and Safety Code, or in a facility licensed under Chapter 252,
Health and Safety Code, and the actor is an employee of the center
or facility whose employment involved providing direct care for the
victim. When the conduct is engaged in recklessly, the offense is a
state jail felony.
(g) An offense under Subsection (a) is a state jail felony
when the person acts with criminal negligence. An offense under
Subsection (a-1) is a state jail felony when the person, with
criminal negligence and by omission, causes a condition
described by Subsection (a-1)(1), (2), or (3).
(h) A person who is subject to prosecution under both this
section and another section of this code may be prosecuted under
either or both sections. This section does not apply to a person
prosecuted under Penal Code Section 21.02, Section 21.07, or
Section 21.11. Section 3.04 does not apply to criminal episodes
prosecuted under both this section and another section of this
code. If a criminal episode is prosecuted under both this section
and another section of this code and sentences are assessed for
convictions under both sections, the sentences shall run
concurrently.
(i) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under
Subsection (b)(2) that before the offense the actor:
(1) notified in person the child, elderly individual,
or disabled individual that he would no longer provide any of the
care described by Subsection (d); and
(2) notified in writing the parents or person other
than himself acting in loco parentis to the child, elderly
individual, or disabled individual that he would no longer provide
any of the care described by Subsection (d); or
(3) notified in writing the Department of Protective
and Regulatory Services that he would no longer provide any of the
care set forth in Subsection (d).
(j) Written notification under Subsection (i)(2) or (i)(3)
is not effective unless it contains the name and address of the
actor, the name and address of the child, elderly individual, or
disabled individual, the type of care provided by the actor, and the
date the care was discontinued.
(k) It is a defense to prosecution under this section that
the act or omission consisted of:
(1) reasonable medical care occurring under the
direction of or by a licensed physician; or
(2) emergency medical care administered in good faith
and with reasonable care by a person not licensed in the healing
arts.
(l) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this
section:
(1) that the act or omission was based on treatment in
accordance with the tenets and practices of a recognized religious
method of healing with a generally accepted record of efficacy;
(2) for a person charged with an act of omission
causing to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual a
condition described by Subsection (a)(1), (2), or (3) that:
(A) there is no evidence that, on the date prior
to the offense charged, the defendant was aware of an incident
of injury to the child, elderly individual, or disabled individual
and failed to report the incident; and
(B) the person:
(i) was a victim of family violence, as that
term is defined by Section 71.004, Family Code, committed by a
person who is also charged with an offense against the child,
elderly individual, or disabled individual under this section or
any other section of this title;
(ii) did not cause a condition described by
Subsection (a)(1), (2), or (3); and
(iii) did not reasonably believe at the
time of the omission that an effort to prevent the person also
charged with an offense against the child, elderly individual, or
disabled individual from committing the offense would have an
effect; or
(3) that:
(A) the actor was not more than three years older
than the victim at the time of the offense; and
(B) the victim was a child at the time of the
offense.
SECTION 2. Title 4, Subtitle G, Chapter 508, Government
Code, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 508.145. ELIGIBILITY FOR RELEASE ON PAROLE;
COMPUTATION OF PAROLE ELIGIBILITY DATE. (a) An inmate under
sentence of death, serving a sentence of life imprisonment without
parole, serving a sentence for an offense under Section 21.02,
Penal Code, or serving a sentence for an offense under Section
22.021, Penal Code, that is punishable under Subsection (f) of that
section is not eligible for release on parole.
(b) An inmate serving a life sentence under Section
12.31(a)(1), Penal Code, for a capital felony is not eligible for
release on parole until the actual calendar time the inmate has
served, without consideration of good conduct time, equals 40
calendar years.
(c) An inmate serving a sentence under Section 12.42(c)(2),
Penal Code, is not eligible for release on parole until the actual
calendar time the inmate has served, without consideration of good
conduct time, equals 35 calendar years.
(d)(1) An inmate serving a sentence for an offense described
by Section 3g(a)(1)(A), (C), (D), (E), (F), (G), (H), (I), (J), or
(K), Article 42.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, or for an offense
for which the judgment contains an affirmative finding under
Section 3g(a)(2) of that article, or for an offense under Section
20A.03, Penal Code, is not eligible for release on parole until the
inmate's actual calendar time served, without consideration of good
conduct time, equals one-half of the sentence or 30 calendar years,
whichever is less, but in no event is the inmate eligible for
release on parole in less than two calendar years.
(2) Notwithstanding Subdivision (1), an inmate
serving a sentence for an offense described by Section 3g(a)(1)(E),
Article 42.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, is not eligible for
release on parole if the inmate is serving a sentence for an offense
for which punishment was enhanced under Section 12.42(c)(4), Penal
Code.
(d-1) Notwithstanding Subsection (d), for every 12 months
that elapse between the date an arrest warrant is issued for the
inmate following an indictment for the offense and the date the
inmate is arrested for the offense, the earliest date on which an
inmate is eligible for parole is delayed by three years from the
date otherwise provided by Subsection (d), if the inmate is serving
a sentence for an offense under Section 19.02, 22.011, or 22.021,
Penal Code.
(e) An inmate serving a sentence for which the punishment is
increased under Section 481.134, Health and Safety Code, is not
eligible for release on parole until the inmate's actual calendar
time served, without consideration of good conduct time, equals
five years or the term to which the inmate was sentenced, whichever
is less.
(f) Except as provided by Section 508.146, any other inmate
is eligible for release on parole when the inmate's actual calendar
time served plus good conduct time equals one-fourth of the
sentence imposed or 15 years, whichever is less.
(g) An inmate serving a sentence under Section 22.04, Penal
Code, is not eligible for release on parole until the inmate's
actual calendar time served plus good conduct time equals one-half
of the sentence imposed or 20 years, whichever is less.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.