Texas 2021 - 87th Regular

Texas House Bill HB68 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	87R124 MCK-D
2	2	By: Toth H.B. No. 68
3	3
4	4
5	5	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
6	6	AN ACT
7	7	relating to the definition of abuse of a child.
8	8	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
9	9	SECTION 1. Section 261.001, Family Code, is amended by
10	10	amending Subdivision (1) and adding Subdivisions (3-a) and (3-b) to
11	11	read as follows:
12	12	(1) "Abuse":
13	13	(A) includes the following acts or omissions by a
14	14	person:
15	15	(i) [(A)] mental or emotional injury to a
16	16	child that results in an observable and material impairment in the
17	17	child's growth, development, or psychological functioning;
18	18	(ii) [(B)] causing or permitting the child
19	19	to be in a situation in which the child sustains a mental or
20	20	emotional injury that results in an observable and material
21	21	impairment in the child's growth, development, or psychological
22	22	functioning;
23	23	(iii) [(C)] physical injury that results in
24	24	substantial harm to the child, or the genuine threat of substantial
25	25	harm from physical injury to the child, including an injury that is
26	26	at variance with the history or explanation given and excluding an
27	27	accident or reasonable discipline by a parent, guardian, or
28	28	managing or possessory conservator that does not expose the child
29	29	to a substantial risk of harm;
30	30	(iv) [(D)] failure to make a reasonable
31	31	effort to prevent an action by another person that results in
32	32	physical injury that results in substantial harm to the child;
33	33	(v) [(E)] sexual conduct harmful to a
34	34	child's mental, emotional, or physical welfare, including conduct
35	35	that constitutes the offense of continuous sexual abuse of young
36	36	child or children under Section 21.02, Penal Code, indecency with a
37	37	child under Section 21.11, Penal Code, sexual assault under Section
38	38	22.011, Penal Code, or aggravated sexual assault under Section
39	39	22.021, Penal Code;
40	40	(vi) [(F)] failure to make a reasonable
41	41	effort to prevent sexual conduct harmful to a child;
42	42	(vii) [(G)] compelling or encouraging the
43	43	child to engage in sexual conduct as defined by Section 43.01, Penal
44	44	Code, including compelling or encouraging the child in a manner
45	45	that constitutes an offense of trafficking of persons under Section
46	46	20A.02(a)(7) or (8), Penal Code, prostitution under Section
47	47	43.02(b), Penal Code, or compelling prostitution under Section
48	48	43.05(a)(2), Penal Code;
49	49	(viii) [(H)] causing, permitting,
50	50	encouraging, engaging in, or allowing the photographing, filming,
51	51	or depicting of the child if the person knew or should have known
52	52	that the resulting photograph, film, or depiction of the child is
53	53	obscene as defined by Section 43.21, Penal Code, or pornographic;
54	54	(ix) [(I)] the current use by a person of a
55	55	controlled substance as defined by Chapter 481, Health and Safety
56	56	Code, in a manner or to the extent that the use results in physical,
57	57	mental, or emotional injury to a child;
58	58	(x) [(J)] causing, expressly permitting,
59	59	or encouraging a child to use a controlled substance as defined by
60	60	Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code;
61	61	(xi) [(K)] causing, permitting,
62	62	encouraging, engaging in, or allowing a sexual performance by a
63	63	child as defined by Section 43.25, Penal Code;
64	64	(xii) [(L)] knowingly causing, permitting,
65	65	encouraging, engaging in, or allowing a child to be trafficked in a
66	66	manner punishable as an offense under Section 20A.02(a)(5), (6),
67	67	(7), or (8), Penal Code, or the failure to make a reasonable effort
68	68	to prevent a child from being trafficked in a manner punishable as
69	69	an offense under any of those sections; or
70	70	(xiii) [(M)] forcing or coercing a child to
71	71	enter into a marriage;
72	72	(B) subject to Paragraph (C), includes the
73	73	following acts by a medical professional or mental health
74	74	professional for the purpose of attempting to change or affirm a
75	75	child's perception of the child's sex, if that perception is
76	76	inconsistent with the child's biological sex as determined by the
77	77	child's sex organs, chromosomes, and endogenous hormone profiles:
78	78	(i) performing a surgery that sterilizes
79	79	the child, including castration, vasectomy, hysterectomy,
80	80	oophorectomy, metoidioplasty, orchiectomy, penectomy,
81	81	phalloplasty, and vaginoplasty;
82	82	(ii) performing a mastectomy;
83	83	(iii) administering or supplying any of the
84	84	following medications that induce transient or permanent
85	85	infertility:
86	86	(a) puberty-blocking medication to
87	87	stop or delay normal puberty;
88	88	(b) supraphysiologic doses of
89	89	testosterone to females; or
90	90	(c) supraphysiologic doses of
91	91	estrogen to males; or
92	92	(iv) removing any otherwise healthy or
93	93	non-diseased body part or tissue; and
94	94	(C) does not include an act described by
95	95	Paragraph (B) performed on a child born with a medically verifiable
96	96	genetic disorder of sex development, including:
97	97	(i) a child with external biological sex
98	98	characteristics that are irresolvably ambiguous, including a child
99	99	born having:
100	100	(a) 46, XX chromosomes with
101	101	virilization;
102	102	(b) 46, XY chromosomes with
103	103	undervirilization; or
104	104	(c) both ovarian and testicular
105	105	tissue; or
106	106	(ii) a child who does not have the normal
107	107	sex chromosome structure for a male or female as determined by a
108	108	physician through genetic testing.
109	109	(3-a) "Medical professional" means a physician,
110	110	physician assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse
111	111	licensed to practice in this state.
112	112	(3-b) "Mental health professional" means a person who
113	113	is licensed to practice in this state as a psychologist,
114	114	psychiatrist, social worker, marriage and family therapist, mental
115	115	health counselor, or educational psychologist or any other person
116	116	designated or licensed under state law as a mental health or
117	117	behavioral science professional.
118	118	SECTION 2. Section 71.004, Family Code, is amended to read
119	119	as follows:
120	120	Sec. 71.004. FAMILY VIOLENCE. "Family violence" means:
121	121	(1) an act by a member of a family or household against
122	122	another member of the family or household that is intended to result
123	123	in physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or sexual assault or that
124	124	is a threat that reasonably places the member in fear of imminent
125	125	physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or sexual assault, but does
126	126	not include defensive measures to protect oneself;
127	127	(2) abuse, as that term is defined by Sections
128	128	261.001(1)(A)(iii), (v), (vii), (viii), (ix), (x), (xi), and (xiii)
129	129	[261.001(1)(C), (E), (G), (H), (I), (J), (K), and (M)], by a member
130	130	of a family or household toward a child of the family or household;
131	131	or
132	132	(3) dating violence, as that term is defined by
133	133	Section 71.0021.
134	134	SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.