Enrolled Bill Summary

            House Bill 236 amends the Penal Code to increase the punishment to the next level for the offense of obscenity if it is shown at trial that the obscene material depicts activities by a child younger than 18 years of age or an image created, adapted, or modified to be the image of an identifiable child, and requires a defendant previously convicted of this offense to be imprisoned for life. The bill increases the punishment from a third to a second degree felony if a person is convicted of the offense of sale or purchase of a child with the intent to commit an offense relating to the sexual performance of a child. The bill deletes a provision of the offense of sexual performance by a child that provides a defense to prosecution if the defendant, in good faith, reasonably believed that the child who engaged in the sexual conduct was 18 years or older. The bill creates a duty to report for a business that develops or processes visual material and determines that the material may be evidence of the criminal offense of possession or promotion of child pornography. The Department of Public Safety is responsible for determining whether the elements of an offense under the laws of another state, federal law, or military law are substantially similar to the elements of an offense in Texas for purposes of the Sex Offender Registration Program, and House Bill 236 adds the laws of a foreign country to that duty.