By: Huffman S.B. No. 1019
(In the Senate - Filed January 30, 2025; February 24, 2025,
read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
March 19, 2025, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 7,
Nays 0; March 19, 2025, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the admissibility of certain hearsay statements in the
adjudication of certain sexual or assaultive offenses committed
against a child or a person with a disability.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 54.031(a) and (d), Family Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) This section applies to a hearing under this title in
which a child is alleged to be a delinquent child on the basis of a
violation of any of the following provisions of the Penal Code, if a
child 18 [12] years of age or younger or a person with a disability
is the alleged victim of the violation:
(1) Chapter 21 (Sexual Offenses) or 22 (Assaultive
Offenses);
(2) Section 25.02 (Prohibited Sexual Conduct);
(3) Section 43.25 (Sexual Performance by a Child);
(4) Section 20A.02(a)(7) or (8) (Trafficking of
Persons); or
(5) Section 43.05(a)(2) (Compelling Prostitution).
(d) In this section, "person with a disability" has the same
meaning as "disabled individual" as defined by Section 22.04, Penal
Code [means a person 13 years of age or older who because of age or
physical or mental disease, disability, or injury is substantially
unable to protect the person's self from harm or to provide food,
shelter, or medical care for the person's self].
SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act apply to a
case in a juvenile court that commences on or after the effective
date of this Act. A case that commences before the effective date of
this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the case
commenced, and the former law is continued in effect for that
purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.
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