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
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 |
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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; [ |
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(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"[ |
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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; [ |
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(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. |