Bill Text: TX HB1286 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Relating to the prosecution and punishment of the offense of injury to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Passed) 2015-06-17 - Effective on 9/1/15 [HB1286 Detail]

Download: Texas-2015-HB1286-Enrolled.html

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H.B. No. 1286

AN ACT
relating to the prosecution and punishment of the offense of injury
to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 22.04(c)(3), Penal Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(3) "Disabled individual" means a person:
(A) with one or more of the following:
(i) autism spectrum disorder, as defined by
Section 1355.001, Insurance Code;
(ii) developmental disability, as defined
by Section 112.042, Human Resources Code;
(iii) intellectual disability, as defined
by Section 591.003, Health and Safety Code;
(iv) severe emotional disturbance, as
defined by Section 261.001, Family Code; or
(v) traumatic brain injury, as defined by
Section 92.001, Health and Safety Code; or
(B) [older than 14 years of age] who otherwise by
reason of age or physical or mental disease, defect, or injury is
substantially unable to protect the person's self [himself] from
harm or to provide food, shelter, or medical care for the person's
self [himself].
SECTION 2. Section 22.04, Penal Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (l) and adding Subsection (m) to read as
follows:
(l) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this
section:
(1) that the act or omission was based on treatment in
accordance with the tenets and practices of a recognized religious
method of healing with a generally accepted record of efficacy;
(2) for a person charged with an act of omission
causing to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual a
condition described by Subsection (a)(1), (2), or (3) that:
(A) there is no evidence that, on the date prior
to the offense charged, the defendant was aware of an incident of
injury to the child, elderly individual, or disabled individual and
failed to report the incident; and
(B) the person:
(i) was a victim of family violence, as that
term is defined by Section 71.004, Family Code, committed by a
person who is also charged with an offense against the child,
elderly individual, or disabled individual under this section or
any other section of this title;
(ii) did not cause a condition described by
Subsection (a)(1), (2), or (3); and
(iii) did not reasonably believe at the
time of the omission that an effort to prevent the person also
charged with an offense against the child, elderly individual, or
disabled individual from committing the offense would have an
effect; or
(3) that:
(A) the actor was not more than three years older
than the victim at the time of the offense; and
(B) the victim was a nondisabled or disabled
child at the time of the offense.
(m) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under
Subsections (a)(1), (2), and (3) for injury to a disabled
individual that the person did not know and could not reasonably
have known that the individual was a disabled individual, as
defined by Subsection (c), at the time of the offense.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.
An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed,
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For
purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the
effective date of this Act if any element of the offense was
committed before that date.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1286 was passed by the House on April
13, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 142, Nays 0, 2 present, not
voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1286 was passed by the Senate on May
26, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor