88R4696 MLH-F
 
  By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 1611
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the definitions of abuse and neglect of 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)
  [261.001(1)(C), (E), (G), (H), (I), (J), (K), and (M)], by a member
  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(1), Family Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
               (1)  "Abuse" includes:
                     (A)  the following acts or omissions by a person:
                           (i) [(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;
                           (ii) [(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;
                           (iii) [(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;
                           (iv) [(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;
                           (v) [(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 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) [(F)]  failure to make a reasonable
  effort to prevent sexual conduct harmful to a child;
                           (vii) [(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, solicitation of prostitution under
  Section 43.021, Penal Code, or compelling prostitution under
  Section 43.05(a)(2), Penal Code;
                           (viii) [(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;
                           (ix) [(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;
                           (x) [(J)]  causing, expressly permitting,
  or encouraging a child to use a controlled substance as defined by
  Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code;
                           (xi) [(K)]  causing, permitting,
  encouraging, engaging in, or allowing a sexual performance by a
  child as defined by Section 43.25, Penal Code;
                           (xii) [(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; or
                           (xiii) [(M)]  forcing or coercing a child to
  enter into a marriage; and
                     (B)  an employee, volunteer, or other individual
  working under the auspices of a school, facility, or program using a
  form of restraint on a child or secluding a child in a manner that
  does not comply with federal law, state law, state rules, or other
  applicable regulations for the school, facility, or program.
         SECTION 3.  Section 261.001(4), Family Code, as amended by
  Chapters 8 (H.B. 567) and 29 (H.B. 2536), Acts of the 87th
  Legislature, Regular Session, 2021, is reenacted and amended to
  read as follows:
               (4)  "Neglect" means an act or failure to act by a
  person responsible for a child's care, custody, or welfare
  evidencing the person's blatant disregard for the consequences of
  the act or failure to act that results in harm to the child or that
  creates an immediate danger to the child's physical health or
  safety and:
                     (A)  includes:
                           (i)  the leaving of a child in a situation
  where the child would be exposed to an immediate danger of physical
  or mental harm, without arranging for necessary care for the child,
  and the demonstration of an intent not to return by a parent,
  guardian, or managing or possessory conservator of the child;
                           (ii)  the following acts or omissions by a
  person:
                                 (a)  placing a child in or failing to
  remove a child from a situation that a reasonable person would
  realize requires judgment or actions beyond the child's level of
  maturity, physical condition, or mental abilities and that results
  in bodily injury or an immediate danger of harm to the child;
                                 (b)  failing to seek, obtain, or follow
  through with medical care for a child, with the failure resulting in
  or presenting an immediate danger of death, disfigurement, or
  bodily injury or with the failure resulting in an observable and
  material impairment to the growth, development, or functioning of
  the child;
                                 (c)  the failure to provide a child
  with food, clothing, or shelter necessary to sustain the life or
  health of the child, excluding failure caused primarily by
  financial inability unless relief services had been offered and
  refused;
                                 (d)  placing a child in or failing to
  remove the child from a situation in which the child would be
  exposed to an immediate danger of sexual conduct harmful to the
  child; or
                                 (e)  placing a child in or failing to
  remove the child from a situation in which the child would be
  exposed to acts or omissions that constitute abuse under
  Subdivision (1)(A)(v), (vi), (vii), (viii), or (xi) [(1)(E), (F),
  (G), (H), or (K)] committed against another child;
                           (iii)  the failure by the person responsible
  for a child's care, custody, or welfare to permit the child to
  return to the child's home without arranging for the necessary care
  for the child after the child has been absent from the home for any
  reason, including having been in residential placement or having
  run away; or
                           (iv)  a negligent act or omission by an
  employee, volunteer, or other individual working under the auspices
  of a school, facility, or program, including failure to comply with
  an individual treatment plan, plan of care, or individualized
  service plan, that causes or may cause substantial emotional harm
  or physical injury to, or the death of, a child served by the
  school, facility, or program as further described by rule or
  policy; and
                     (B)  does not include:
                           (i)  the refusal by a person responsible for
  a child's care, custody, or welfare to permit the child to remain in
  or return to the child's home resulting in the placement of the
  child in the conservatorship of the department if:
                                 (a)  the child has a severe emotional
  disturbance;
                                 (b)  the person's refusal is based
  solely on the person's inability to obtain mental health services
  necessary to protect the safety and well-being of the child; and
                                 (c)  the person has exhausted all
  reasonable means available to the person to obtain the mental
  health services described by Sub-subparagraph (b); [or]
                           (ii)  allowing the child to engage in
  independent activities that are appropriate and typical for the
  child's level of maturity, physical condition, developmental
  abilities, or culture; or
                           (iii) [(ii)]  a decision by a person
  responsible for a child's care, custody, or welfare to:
                                 (a)  obtain an opinion from more than
  one medical provider relating to the child's medical care;
                                 (b)  transfer the child's medical care
  to a new medical provider; or
                                 (c)  transfer the child to another
  health care facility.
         SECTION 4.  To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails
  over another Act of the 88th Legislature, Regular Session, 2023,
  relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted
  codes.
         SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.