Texas 2023 - 88th Regular

Texas House Bill HB672 Compare Versions

Version 1 (Old)

Version 2 (New)

Old	New	Differences
1	1	88R695 MCK-F
2	2	By: Hefner H.B. No. 672
3	3
4	4
5	5	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
6	6	AN ACT
7	7	relating to the definition of child abuse and the prosecution of the
8	8	criminal offense of abandoning or endangering a child.
9	9	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
10	10	SECTION 1. Section 71.004, Family Code, is amended to read
11	11	as follows:
12	12	Sec. 71.004. FAMILY VIOLENCE. "Family violence" means:
13	13	(1) an act by a member of a family or household against
14	14	another member of the family or household that is intended to result
15	15	in physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or sexual assault or that
16	16	is a threat that reasonably places the member in fear of imminent
17	17	physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or sexual assault, but does
18	18	not include defensive measures to protect oneself;
19	19	(2) abuse, as that term is defined by Sections
20	20	261.001(1)(A)(iii), (v), (vii), (viii), (ix), (x), (xi), and (xiii)
21	21	[261.001(1)(C), (E), (G), (H), (I), (J), (K), and (M)], by a member
22	22	of a family or household toward a child of the family or household;
23	23	or
24	24	(3) dating violence, as that term is defined by
25	25	Section 71.0021.
26	26	SECTION 2. Section 261.001, Family Code, is amended by
27	27	amending Subdivision (1) and adding Subdivision (3-a) to read as
28	28	follows:
29	29	(1) "Abuse":
30	30	(A) includes the following acts or omissions by a
31	31	person:
32	32	(i) [(A)] mental or emotional injury to a
33	33	child that results in an observable and material impairment in the
34	34	child's growth, development, or psychological functioning;
35	35	(ii) [(B)] causing or permitting the child
36	36	to be in a situation in which the child sustains a mental or
37	37	emotional injury that results in an observable and material
38	38	impairment in the child's growth, development, or psychological
39	39	functioning;
40	40	(iii) [(C)] physical injury that results in
41	41	substantial harm to the child, or the genuine threat of substantial
42	42	harm from physical injury to the child, including an injury that is
43	43	at variance with the history or explanation given and excluding an
44	44	accident or reasonable discipline by a parent, guardian, or
45	45	managing or possessory conservator that does not expose the child
46	46	to a substantial risk of harm;
47	47	(iv) [(D)] failure to make a reasonable
48	48	effort to prevent an action by another person that results in
49	49	physical injury that results in substantial harm to the child;
50	50	(v) [(E)] sexual conduct harmful to a
51	51	child's mental, emotional, or physical welfare, including conduct
52	52	that constitutes the offense of continuous sexual abuse of young
53	53	child or disabled individual under Section 21.02, Penal Code,
54	54	indecency with a child under Section 21.11, Penal Code, sexual
55	55	assault under Section 22.011, Penal Code, or aggravated sexual
56	56	assault under Section 22.021, Penal Code;
57	57	(vi) [(F)] failure to make a reasonable
58	58	effort to prevent sexual conduct harmful to a child;
59	59	(vii) [(G)] compelling or encouraging the
60	60	child to engage in sexual conduct as defined by Section 43.01, Penal
61	61	Code, including compelling or encouraging the child in a manner
62	62	that constitutes an offense of trafficking of persons under Section
63	63	20A.02(a)(7) or (8), Penal Code, solicitation of prostitution under
64	64	Section 43.021, Penal Code, or compelling prostitution under
65	65	Section 43.05(a)(2), Penal Code;
66	66	(viii) [(H)] causing, permitting,
67	67	encouraging, engaging in, or allowing the photographing, filming,
68	68	or depicting of the child if the person knew or should have known
69	69	that the resulting photograph, film, or depiction of the child is
70	70	obscene as defined by Section 43.21, Penal Code, or pornographic;
71	71	(ix) [(I)] the current use by a person of a
72	72	controlled substance as defined by Chapter 481, Health and Safety
73	73	Code, in a manner or to the extent that the use results in physical,
74	74	mental, or emotional injury to a child;
75	75	(x) [(J)] causing, expressly permitting,
76	76	or encouraging a child to use a controlled substance as defined by
77	77	Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code;
78	78	(xi) [(K)] causing, permitting,
79	79	encouraging, engaging in, or allowing a sexual performance by a
80	80	child as defined by Section 43.25, Penal Code;
81	81	(xii) [(L)] knowingly causing, permitting,
82	82	encouraging, engaging in, or allowing a child to be trafficked in a
83	83	manner punishable as an offense under Section 20A.02(a)(5), (6),
84	84	(7), or (8), Penal Code, or the failure to make a reasonable effort
85	85	to prevent a child from being trafficked in a manner punishable as
86	86	an offense under any of those sections; [or]
87	87	(xiii) [(M)] forcing or coercing a child to
88	88	enter into a marriage;
89	89	(xiv) administering or supplying, or
90	90	consenting to or assisting in the administration or supply of, a
91	91	puberty suppression prescription drug or cross-sex hormone to a
92	92	child, other than an intersex child, for the purpose of gender
93	93	transitioning or gender reassignment; or
94	94	(xv) performing or consenting to the
95	95	performance of surgery or another medical procedure on a child,
96	96	other than an intersex child, for the purpose of gender
97	97	transitioning or gender reassignment; and
98	98	(B) does not include an act described by
99	99	Subparagraph (xiv) if the act is the dispensing or delivery of a
100	100	drug in accordance with Subtitle J, Title 3, Occupations Code, by a
101	101	person licensed under that subtitle.
102	102	(3-a) "Intersex child" means a child who is younger
103	103	than 18 years of age and either:
104	104	(A) has inborn chromosomal, gonadal, genital, or
105	105	endocrine characteristics, or a combination of those
106	106	characteristics, that are not suited to the typical definition of
107	107	male or female or are atypical for the determined sex of the child;
108	108	or
109	109	(B) is considered by a medical professional to
110	110	have inborn chromosomal, gonadal, genital, or endocrine
111	111	characteristics that are ambiguous or atypical for the determined
112	112	sex of the child.
113	113	SECTION 3. Section 22.041, Penal Code, is amended by
114	114	amending Subsections (a) and (c-1) and adding Subsections (c-2) and
115	115	(c-3) to read as follows:
116	116	(a) In this section:
117	117	(1) "Abandon"[, "abandon"] means to leave a child in
118	118	any place without providing reasonable and necessary care for the
119	119	child, under circumstances under which no reasonable, similarly
120	120	situated adult would leave a child of that age and ability.
121	121	(2) "Intersex child" means a child who is younger than
122	122	15 years of age and either:
123	123	(A) has inborn chromosomal, gonadal, genital, or
124	124	endocrine characteristics, or a combination of those
125	125	characteristics, that are not suited to the typical definition of
126	126	male or female or are atypical for the determined sex of the child;
127	127	or
128	128	(B) is considered by a medical professional to
129	129	have inborn chromosomal, gonadal, genital, or endocrine
130	130	characteristics that are ambiguous or atypical for the determined
131	131	sex of the child.
132	132	(c-1) For purposes of Subsection (c), it is presumed that a
133	133	person engaged in conduct that places a child in imminent danger of
134	134	death, bodily injury, or physical or mental impairment if:
135	135	(1) the person manufactured, possessed, or in any way
136	136	introduced into the body of any person the controlled substance
137	137	methamphetamine in the presence of the child;
138	138	(2) the person's conduct related to the proximity or
139	139	accessibility of the controlled substance methamphetamine to the
140	140	child and an analysis of a specimen of the child's blood, urine, or
141	141	other bodily substance indicates the presence of methamphetamine in
142	142	the child's body; [or]
143	143	(3) the person injected, ingested, inhaled, or
144	144	otherwise introduced a controlled substance listed in Penalty Group
145	145	1, Section 481.102, Health and Safety Code, or Penalty Group 1-B,
146	146	Section 481.1022, Health and Safety Code, into the human body when
147	147	the person was not in lawful possession of the substance as defined
148	148	by Section 481.002(24) of that code;
149	149	(4) the person administers or supplies, or consents to
150	150	or assists in the administering or supplying of, a puberty
151	151	suppression prescription drug or cross-sex hormone to a child for
152	152	the purpose of gender transitioning or gender reassignment; or
153	153	(5) the person performs or consents to the performance
154	154	of surgery or another medical procedure on a child for the purpose
155	155	of gender transitioning or gender reassignment.
156	156	(c-2) The presumptions provided by Subsections (c-1)(4) and
157	157	(5) do not apply to conduct described by those subsections that
158	158	involves an intersex child.
159	159	(c-3) The presumption provided by Subsection (c-1)(4) does
160	160	not apply to conduct described by that subsection if the conduct is
161	161	the dispensing or delivery of a drug in accordance with Subtitle J,
162	162	Title 3, Occupations Code, by a person licensed under that
163	163	subtitle.
164	164	SECTION 4. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
165	165	an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act. An
166	166	offense committed before the effective date of this Act is governed
167	167	by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed, and the
168	168	former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For purposes of
169	169	this section, an offense was committed before the effective date of
170	170	this Act if any element of the offense occurred before that date.
171	171	SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.