Bill Text: TX HB324 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to the prosecution of the offense of sexual assault.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-11-12 - Filed [HB324 Detail]

Download: Texas-2025-HB324-Introduced.html

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89R5127 MZM-F
By: Johnson H.B. No. 324

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the prosecution of the offense of sexual assault.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 22.011(b), Penal Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(b) A sexual assault under Subsection (a)(1) is without the
consent of the other person if consent, as defined by Section
1.07(a), is not present or if:
(1) the actor compels the other person to submit or
participate by the use of physical force, violence, or coercion;
(2) the actor compels the other person to submit or
participate by threatening to use force or violence against the
other person or to cause harm to the other person, and the other
person believes that the actor has the present ability to execute
the threat;
(3) [the other person has not consented and] the actor
knows or reasonably should know the other person is:
(A) unconscious;
(B) [or] physically unable to resist;
(C) incapable either of appraising the nature of
the act or of resisting the act; or
(D) unaware that the sexual assault is occurring;
(4) the actor knows or reasonably should know that the
other person has not consented, either verbally or through another
positive affirmation, to the specific act or that the person has
withdrawn consent to the act and the actor persists after consent is
withdrawn [the actor knows that as a result of mental disease or
defect the other person is at the time of the sexual assault
incapable either of appraising the nature of the act or of resisting
it];
(5) the actor knows or reasonably should know the
other person is intoxicated by any substance such that the other
person is incapable of consenting to the act [the other person has
not consented and the actor knows the other person is unaware that
the sexual assault is occurring];
(6) [the actor has intentionally impaired the other
person's power to appraise or control the other person's conduct by
administering any substance without the other person's knowledge;
[(7)] the actor compels the other person to submit or
participate by threatening to use force or violence against any
person, and the other person believes that the actor has the ability
to execute the threat;
(7) [(8)] the actor is a public servant, or
impersonates a public servant, who coerces the other person to
submit or participate;
(8) [(9)] the actor is a mental health services
provider or a health care services provider who causes the other
person, who is a patient or former patient of the actor, to submit
or participate by exploiting the other person's emotional
dependency on the actor;
(9) [(10)] the actor is a clergyman, or impersonates a
clergyman, who causes the other person to submit or participate by
exploiting the other person's emotional dependency on the actor
[clergyman] in the actor's [clergyman's] professional or
impersonated character as spiritual adviser;
(10) [(11)] the actor is an employee of a facility, or
impersonates an employee of a facility, where the other person is a
resident, unless the employee and resident are formally or
informally married to each other under Chapter 2, Family Code;
(11) [(12)] the actor is a health care services
provider who, in the course of performing an assisted reproduction
procedure on the other person, uses human reproductive material
from a donor knowing that the other person has not expressly
consented to the use of material from that donor;
(12) [(13)] the actor is a coach or tutor, or
impersonates a coach or tutor, who causes the other person to submit
or participate by using the actor's power or influence to exploit
the other person's dependency on the actor; [or]
(13) [(14)] the actor is a caregiver hired to assist
the other person with activities of daily life, or impersonates
such a caregiver, and causes the other person to submit or
participate by exploiting the other person's dependency on the
actor; or
(14) the actor is a mental health services provider, a
health care services provider, or a person purporting to be a health
care services provider who, during the course of providing actual
or purported mental health services or health care services to the
other person, causes the other person to submit or participate by
creating or confirming a false impression of law or fact.
SECTION 2. Section 154.051(d-1), Occupations Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(d-1) The board may not consider or act on a complaint
involving an alleged violation of Section 22.011(b)(11)
[22.011(b)(12)], Penal Code, that occurred more than seven years
before the date on which the complaint is received by the board or
more than 2 years from the date the complainant knew or should have
known of the facts giving rise to the complaint, whichever is later.
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 occurred
before that date.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.