Bill Text: TX HB267 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Relating to defenses to prosecution for certain offenses involving material or conduct that is obscene or otherwise harmful to children.

Sponsorship: Strong Partisan Bill (Republican 15-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2025-05-01 - Laid on the table subject to call [HB267 Detail]

Download: Texas-2025-HB267-Comm_Sub.html

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89R16466 JCG-F
By: Patterson, Hickland, Metcalf, Hefner, H.B. No. 267
Vasut, et al.
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 267:
By: Hull C.S.H.B. No. 267

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to defenses to prosecution for certain offenses involving
material or conduct that is obscene or otherwise harmful to
children.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 43.24, Penal Code, is amended by adding
Subsection (c-2) to read as follows:
(c-2) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under
Subsection (b)(1) or (2) that at the time of the offense the actor
was a judicial or law enforcement officer discharging the officer's
official duties.
SECTION 2. Section 43.25(f), Penal Code, is amended to read
as follows:
(f) It is an affirmative defense to a prosecution under this
section that:
(1) the defendant was the spouse of the child at the
time of the offense;
(2) at the time of the offense the actor was a judicial
or law enforcement officer discharging the officer's official
duties [the conduct was for a bona fide educational, medical,
psychological, psychiatric, judicial, law enforcement, or
legislative purpose]; or
(3) the defendant is not more than two years older than
the child.
SECTION 3. Section 43.24(c), Penal Code, is repealed.
SECTION 4. The changes in law made by this Act apply 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 occurred before that date.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.