89R15164 AMF-F
By: Lowe H.B. No. 3478
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the definitions of child abuse and neglect and the
temporary emergency jurisdiction of a court in this state over a
child at risk of receiving certain prohibited gender transitioning
or gender reassignment procedures or treatments.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as the Save James Act.
SECTION 2. Section 152.204(a), Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) A court of this state has temporary emergency
jurisdiction if:
(1) the child is present in this state and the child
has been abandoned or it is necessary in an emergency to protect the
child because the child, or a sibling or parent of the child, is
subjected to or threatened with mistreatment or abuse; or
(2) the child has a parent or person acting as a parent
who is present in this state and it is necessary to protect the
child from receiving a treatment or procedure prohibited under
Section 161.702, Health and Safety Code.
SECTION 3. Section 261.001, Family Code, is amended by
amending Subdivisions (1) and (4) and adding Subdivision (1-a) to
read as follows:
(1) "Abuse" includes the following acts or omissions
by a person:
(A) mental or emotional injury to a child that
results in an observable and material impairment in the child's
growth, development, or psychological functioning;
(B) causing or permitting the child to be in a
situation in which the child sustains a mental or emotional injury
that results in an observable and material impairment in the
child's growth, development, or psychological functioning;
(C) physical injury that results in substantial
harm to the child, or the genuine threat of substantial harm from
physical injury to the child, including an injury that is at
variance with the history or explanation given and excluding an
accident or reasonable discipline by a parent, guardian, or
managing or possessory conservator that does not expose the child
to a substantial risk of harm;
(D) failure to make a reasonable effort to
prevent an action by another person that results in physical injury
that results in substantial harm to the child;
(E) sexual conduct harmful to a child's mental,
emotional, or physical welfare, including conduct that constitutes
the offense of continuous sexual abuse of young child or disabled
individual under Section 21.02, Penal Code, indecency with a child
under Section 21.11, Penal Code, sexual assault under Section
22.011, Penal Code, or aggravated sexual assault under Section
22.021, Penal Code;
(F) failure to make a reasonable effort to
prevent sexual conduct harmful to a child;
(G) compelling or encouraging the child to engage
in sexual conduct as defined by Section 43.01, Penal Code,
including compelling or encouraging the child in a manner that
constitutes an offense of trafficking of persons under Section
20A.02(a)(7) or (8), Penal Code, solicitation of prostitution under
Section 43.021, Penal Code, or compelling prostitution under
Section 43.05(a)(2), Penal Code;
(H) causing, permitting, encouraging, engaging
in, or allowing the photographing, filming, or depicting of the
child if the person knew or should have known that the resulting
photograph, film, or depiction of the child is obscene as defined by
Section 43.21, Penal Code, or pornographic;
(I) the current use by a person of a controlled
substance as defined by Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code, in a
manner or to the extent that the use results in physical, mental, or
emotional injury to a child;
(J) causing, expressly permitting, or
encouraging a child to use a controlled substance as defined by
Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code;
(K) causing, permitting, encouraging, engaging
in, or allowing a sexual performance by a child as defined by
Section 43.25, Penal Code;
(L) knowingly causing, permitting, encouraging,
engaging in, or allowing a child to be trafficked in a manner
punishable as an offense under Section 20A.02(a)(5), (6), (7), or
(8), Penal Code, or the failure to make a reasonable effort to
prevent a child from being trafficked in a manner punishable as an
offense under any of those sections; [or]
(M) forcing or coercing a child to enter into a
marriage; or
(N) causing, permitting, encouraging, engaging
in, or allowing:
(i) a medical intervention intended to
affirm a child's perception of the child's gender if that perception
is inconsistent with the child's biological sex, including a
treatment or procedure prohibited under Section 161.702, Health and
Safety Code; or
(ii) a psychological or social intervention
intended to affirm a child's perception of the child's gender if
that perception is inconsistent with the child's biological sex and
is:
(a) severe or pervasive enough to
cause harm to the child's perception of the child's gender or
identity; or
(b) an intervention by an adult
authority figure in the child's life.
(1-a) "Abuse" does not include the refusal by a person
responsible for a child's care, custody, or welfare to affirm:
(A) a child's perception of the child's gender if
that perception is inconsistent with the child's biological sex,
including a refusal to use a child's preferred name or pronouns if
the name or pronouns are inconsistent with the child's biological
sex, regardless of whether the child's name has been legally
changed; or
(B) a child's expressed sexual orientation.
(4) "Neglect" means an act or failure to act by a
person responsible for a child's care, custody, or welfare
evidencing the person's blatant disregard for the consequences of
the act or failure to act that results in harm to the child or that
creates an immediate danger to the child's physical health or
safety and:
(A) includes:
(i) the leaving of a child in a situation
where the child would be exposed to an immediate danger of physical
or mental harm, without arranging for necessary care for the child,
and the demonstration of an intent not to return by a parent,
guardian, or managing or possessory conservator of the child;
(ii) the following acts or omissions by a
person:
(a) placing a child in or failing to
remove a child from a situation that a reasonable person would
realize requires judgment or actions beyond the child's level of
maturity, physical condition, or mental abilities and that results
in bodily injury or an immediate danger of harm to the child;
(b) failing to seek, obtain, or follow
through with medical care for a child, with the failure resulting in
or presenting an immediate danger of death, disfigurement, or
bodily injury or with the failure resulting in an observable and
material impairment to the growth, development, or functioning of
the child;
(c) the failure to provide a child
with food, clothing, or shelter necessary to sustain the life or
health of the child, excluding failure caused primarily by
financial inability unless relief services had been offered and
refused;
(d) placing a child in or failing to
remove the child from a situation in which the child would be
exposed to an immediate danger of sexual conduct harmful to the
child; or
(e) placing a child in or failing to
remove the child from a situation in which the child would be
exposed to acts or omissions that constitute abuse under
Subdivision (1)(E), (F), (G), (H), or (K) committed against another
child;
(iii) the failure by the person responsible
for a child's care, custody, or welfare to permit the child to
return to the child's home without arranging for the necessary care
for the child after the child has been absent from the home for any
reason, including having been in residential placement or having
run away; or
(iv) a negligent act or omission by an
employee, volunteer, or other individual working under the auspices
of a facility or program, including failure to comply with an
individual treatment plan, plan of care, or individualized service
plan, that causes or may cause substantial emotional harm or
physical injury to, or the death of, a child served by the facility
or program as further described by rule or policy; and
(B) does not include:
(i) the refusal by a person responsible for
a child's care, custody, or welfare to permit the child to remain in
or return to the child's home resulting in the placement of the
child in the conservatorship of the department if:
(a) the child has a severe emotional
disturbance;
(b) the person's refusal is based
solely on the person's inability to obtain mental health services
necessary to protect the safety and well-being of the child; and
(c) the person has exhausted all
reasonable means available to the person to obtain the mental
health services described by Sub-subparagraph (b);
(ii) allowing the child to engage in
independent activities that are appropriate and typical for the
child's level of maturity, physical condition, developmental
abilities, or culture; [or]
(iii) a decision by a person responsible
for a child's care, custody, or welfare to:
(a) obtain an opinion from more than
one medical provider relating to the child's medical care;
(b) transfer the child's medical care
to a new medical provider; or
(c) transfer the child to another
health care facility; or
(iv) the refusal by a person responsible
for a child's care, custody, or welfare to affirm:
(a) a child's perception of the
child's gender if that perception is inconsistent with the child's
biological sex, including a refusal to use a child's preferred name
or pronouns if the name or pronouns are inconsistent with the
child's biological sex, regardless of whether the child's name has
been legally changed; or
(b) a child's expressed sexual
orientation.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.