Bill Text: TX HB672 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to the definition of child abuse and the prosecution of the criminal offense of abandoning or endangering a child.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-02-23 - Referred to Public Health [HB672 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HB672-Introduced.html
88R695 MCK-F | ||
By: Hefner | H.B. No. 672 |
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relating to 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 71.004, Family Code, is amended to read | ||
as follows: | ||
Sec. 71.004. FAMILY VIOLENCE. "Family violence" means: | ||
(1) an act by a member of a family or household against | ||
another member of the family or household that is intended to result | ||
in physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or sexual assault or that | ||
is a threat that reasonably places the member in fear of imminent | ||
physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or sexual assault, but does | ||
not include defensive measures to protect oneself; | ||
(2) abuse, as that term is defined by Sections | ||
261.001(1)(A)(iii), (v), (vii), (viii), (ix), (x), (xi), and (xiii) | ||
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of a family or household toward a child of the family or household; | ||
or | ||
(3) dating violence, as that term is defined by | ||
Section 71.0021. | ||
SECTION 2. Section 261.001, Family Code, is amended by | ||
amending Subdivision (1) and adding Subdivision (3-a) to read as | ||
follows: | ||
(1) "Abuse": | ||
(A) includes the following acts or omissions by a | ||
person: | ||
(i) [ |
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child that results in an observable and material impairment in the | ||
child's growth, development, or psychological functioning; | ||
(ii) [ |
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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; | ||
(iii) [ |
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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; | ||
(iv) [ |
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effort to prevent an action by another person that results in | ||
physical injury that results in substantial harm to the child; | ||
(v) [ |
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child's mental, emotional, or physical welfare, including conduct | ||
that constitutes the offense of continuous sexual abuse of young | ||
child or disabled individual 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; | ||
(vi) [ |
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effort to prevent sexual conduct harmful to a child; | ||
(vii) [ |
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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, solicitation of prostitution under | ||
Section 43.021, Penal Code, or compelling prostitution under | ||
Section 43.05(a)(2), Penal Code; | ||
(viii) [ |
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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; | ||
(ix) [ |
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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; | ||
(x) [ |
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or encouraging a child to use a controlled substance as defined by | ||
Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code; | ||
(xi) [ |
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encouraging, engaging in, or allowing a sexual performance by a | ||
child as defined by Section 43.25, Penal Code; | ||
(xii) [ |
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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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(xiii) [ |
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enter into a marriage; | ||
(xiv) administering or supplying, or | ||
consenting to or assisting in the administration or supply 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 | ||
(xv) 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; and | ||
(B) does not include an act described by | ||
Subparagraph (xiv) if the act is the dispensing or delivery of a | ||
drug in accordance with Subtitle J, Title 3, Occupations Code, by a | ||
person licensed under that subtitle. | ||
(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 determined sex of the child; | ||
or | ||
(B) is considered by a medical professional to | ||
have inborn chromosomal, gonadal, genital, or endocrine | ||
characteristics that are ambiguous or atypical for the determined | ||
sex of the child. | ||
SECTION 3. Section 22.041, Penal Code, is amended by | ||
amending Subsections (a) and (c-1) and adding Subsections (c-2) and | ||
(c-3) 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 determined sex of the child; | ||
or | ||
(B) is considered by a medical professional to | ||
have inborn chromosomal, gonadal, genital, or endocrine | ||
characteristics that are ambiguous or atypical for the determined | ||
sex of the child. | ||
(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, or Penalty Group 1-B, | ||
Section 481.1022, 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 subsections that | ||
involves an intersex child. | ||
(c-3) The presumption provided by Subsection (c-1)(4) does | ||
not apply to conduct described by that subsection if the conduct is | ||
the dispensing or delivery of a drug in accordance with Subtitle J, | ||
Title 3, Occupations Code, by a person licensed under that | ||
subtitle. | ||
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, 2023. |