|
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
relating to the prosecution for 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. Sections 22.04(a-1) and (i), Penal Code, are |
|
amended to read as follows: |
|
(a-1) A person commits an offense if the person is an owner, |
|
operator, or employee of a group home, nursing facility, assisted |
|
living facility, boarding home facility, intermediate care |
|
facility for persons with an intellectual or developmental |
|
disability [mental retardation], or other institutional care |
|
facility and the person intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, or |
|
with criminal negligence by omission causes to a child, elderly |
|
individual, or disabled individual who is a resident of that group |
|
home or facility: |
|
(1) serious bodily injury; |
|
(2) serious mental deficiency, impairment, or injury; |
|
or |
|
(3) bodily injury. |
|
(i) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under |
|
Subsection (b)(2) that before the offense the actor: |
|
(1) notified in person the child, elderly individual, |
|
or disabled individual that the actor [he] would no longer provide |
|
any of the care described by Subsection (d),[;] and |
|
[(2)] notified in writing the parents or a person, |
|
other than the actor, [himself] acting in loco parentis to the |
|
child, elderly individual, or disabled individual that the actor |
|
[he] would no longer provide any of the care described by Subsection |
|
(d); or |
|
(2) [(3)] notified in writing the Department of Family |
|
and Protective [and Regulatory] Services that the actor [he] would |
|
no longer provide any of the care described by [set forth in] |
|
Subsection (d). |
|
SECTION 2. 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 |
|
(vi) mental illness, as defined by Section |
|
571.003, Health and Safety Code; or |
|
(B) who otherwise by reason of age or physical or |
|
mental disease, defect, or injury is substantially unable to |
|
protect the person's self from harm or to provide food, shelter, or |
|
medical care for the person's self. |
|
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, 2017. |