| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to the prosecution and punishment of the offense of injury |
|
|
to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 22.04(c)(3), Penal Code, is amended to |
|
|
read as follows: |
|
|
(3) "Disabled individual" means a person: |
|
|
(A) with one or more of the following: |
|
|
(i) autism spectrum disorder, as defined by |
|
|
Section 1355.001, Insurance Code; |
|
|
(ii) developmental disability, as defined |
|
|
by Section 112.042, Human Resources Code; |
|
|
(iii) intellectual disability, as defined |
|
|
by Section 591.003, Health and Safety Code; |
|
|
(iv) severe emotional disturbance, as |
|
|
defined by Section 261.001, Family Code; or |
|
|
(v) traumatic brain injury, as defined by |
|
|
Section 92.001, Health and Safety Code; or |
|
|
(B) [older than 14 years of age] who otherwise by |
|
|
reason of age or physical or mental disease, defect, or injury is |
|
|
substantially unable to protect the person's self [himself] from |
|
|
harm or to provide food, shelter, or medical care for the person's |
|
|
self [himself]. |
|
|
SECTION 2. Section 22.04(l), Penal Code, is amended to read |
|
|
as follows: |
|
|
(l) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this |
|
|
section: |
|
|
(1) that the act or omission was based on treatment in |
|
|
accordance with the tenets and practices of a recognized religious |
|
|
method of healing with a generally accepted record of efficacy; |
|
|
(2) for a person charged with an act of omission |
|
|
causing to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual a |
|
|
condition described by Subsection (a)(1), (2), or (3) that: |
|
|
(A) there is no evidence that, on the date prior |
|
|
to the offense charged, the defendant was aware of an incident of |
|
|
injury to the child, elderly individual, or disabled individual and |
|
|
failed to report the incident; and |
|
|
(B) the person: |
|
|
(i) was a victim of family violence, as that |
|
|
term is defined by Section 71.004, Family Code, committed by a |
|
|
person who is also charged with an offense against the child, |
|
|
elderly individual, or disabled individual under this section or |
|
|
any other section of this title; |
|
|
(ii) did not cause a condition described by |
|
|
Subsection (a)(1), (2), or (3); and |
|
|
(iii) did not reasonably believe at the |
|
|
time of the omission that an effort to prevent the person also |
|
|
charged with an offense against the child, elderly individual, or |
|
|
disabled individual from committing the offense would have an |
|
|
effect; or |
|
|
(3) that: |
|
|
(A) the actor was not more than three years older |
|
|
than the victim at the time of the offense; and |
|
|
(B) the victim was a nondisabled or disabled |
|
|
child at the time of the offense. |
|
|
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 was |
|
|
committed before that date. |
|
|
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015. |