Bill Text: TX SB1646 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relating to the definition of abuse of a child.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 14-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2021-05-03 - Referred to Public Health [SB1646 Detail]

Download: Texas-2021-SB1646-Introduced.html
  2021S0174-1 03/09/21
 
  By: Perry, et al. S.B. No. 1646
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the protection of children, including the definition of
  child abuse and the prosecution of the criminal offense of
  abandoning or endangering a child.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 261.001, Family Code, is amended by
  amending Subdivision (1) and adding Subdivision (3-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 children
  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, prostitution under Section
  43.02(b), 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)  for a person other than a person lawfully
  discharging his or her duties under a license issued under Chapter
  551, Occupations Code:
                           (i)  administering or supplying, or
  consenting to or assisting in the administering or supplying of, a
  puberty suppression prescription drug or cross-sex hormone to a
  child, other than an intersex child, for the purpose of gender
  transitioning or gender reassignment; or
                           (ii)  performing or consenting to the
  performance of surgery or another medical procedure on a child,
  other than an intersex child, for the purpose of gender
  transitioning or gender reassignment.
               (3-a) "Intersex child" means a child who is younger
  than 18 years of age and either:
                     (A)  has inborn chromosomal, gonadal, genital, or
  endocrine characteristics, or a combination of those
  characteristics, that are not suited to the typical definition of
  male or female or are atypical for the sex determined; or
                     (B)  is considered by a medical professional to
  have inborn chromosomal, gonadal, genital, or endocrine
  characteristics that are ambiguous or atypical for the sex
  determined.
         SECTION 2.  Section 22.041, Penal Code, is amended by
  amending Subsections (a) and (c-1) and adding Subsection (c-2) to
  read as follows:
         (a)  In this section:
               (1)  "Abandon"[, "abandon"] means to leave a child in
  any place without providing reasonable and necessary care for the
  child, under circumstances under which no reasonable, similarly
  situated adult would leave a child of that age and ability.
               (2)  "Intersex child" means a child who is younger than
  15 years of age and either:
                     (A)  has inborn chromosomal, gonadal, genital, or
  endocrine characteristics, or a combination of those
  characteristics, that are not suited to the typical definition of
  male or female or are atypical for the sex determined; or
                     (B)  is considered by a medical professional to
  have inborn chromosomal, gonadal, genital, or endocrine
  characteristics that are ambiguous or atypical for the sex
  determined.
         (c-1)  For purposes of Subsection (c), it is presumed that a
  person engaged in conduct that places a child in imminent danger of
  death, bodily injury, or physical or mental impairment if:
               (1)  the person manufactured, possessed, or in any way
  introduced into the body of any person the controlled substance
  methamphetamine in the presence of the child;
               (2)  the person's conduct related to the proximity or
  accessibility of the controlled substance methamphetamine to the
  child and an analysis of a specimen of the child's blood, urine, or
  other bodily substance indicates the presence of methamphetamine in
  the child's body; [or]
               (3)  the person injected, ingested, inhaled, or
  otherwise introduced a controlled substance listed in Penalty Group
  1, Section 481.102, Health and Safety Code, into the human body when
  the person was not in lawful possession of the substance as defined
  by Section 481.002(24) of that code;
               (4)  the person administers or supplies, or consents to
  or assists in the administering or supplying of, a puberty
  suppression prescription drug or cross-sex hormone to a child for
  the purpose of gender transitioning or gender reassignment; or
               (5)  the person performs or consents to the performance
  of surgery or another medical procedure on a child for the purpose
  of gender transitioning or gender reassignment.
         (c-2)  The presumptions provided by Subsections (c-1)(4) and
  (5) do not apply to conduct described by those provisions that:
               (1)  occurs with respect to an intersex child; or
               (2)  is the lawful discharge of the actor's duties under
  a license issued to the actor under Chapter 551, Occupations Code.
         SECTION 3.  The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
  a violation or offense committed on or after the effective date of
  this Act. A violation or offense committed before the effective
  date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the
  violation or offense was committed, and the former law is continued
  in effect for that purpose. For purposes of this section, a
  violation or offense was committed before the effective date of
  this Act if any element of the violation or offense occurred before
  that date.
         SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.
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