BILL ANALYSIS

Senate Research Center	H.B. 420
	By: Slawson (Flores)
	Criminal Justice
	5/12/2023
	Engrossed

AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

A constituent's son was provided alcohol by another parent when he was a teenager. On the teenager's drive home, an accident occurred due to his impairment that took the life of the teenager and another passenger in the car. Despite the loss of life, the adult who provided the alcohol could only be charged with up to a Class A misdemeanor for providing alcohol to a minor. There is no enhancement to that penalty in current law for a circumstance in which the minor causes injury or bodily harm as a result of that alcohol consumption.

H.B. 420 seeks to address this issue by enhancing the penalty for the offense of purchasing alcohol for or furnishing alcohol to a minor to a state jail felony for someone who is found to have provided or made available alcohol to a minor who then, due to their impairment, caused another person serious injury or death.

H.B. 420 amends current law relating to the offense of providing an alcoholic beverage to a minor and increases a criminal penalty.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1. Authorizes this Act to be cited as Kyle and Ethan's Law.

SECTION 2. Reenacts Section 106.06(a), Alcoholic Beverage Code, as amended by Chapters 437 (S.B. 55) and 934 (H.B. 1445), Acts of the 73rd Legislature, Regular Session, 1993, and amends it, as follows:

(a) Provides that a person, except as provided in Subsection (b) (relating to authorizing a person to purchase an alcoholic beverage for or give an alcoholic beverage to a minor if the person meets certain criteria), commits an offense if the person purchases an alcoholic beverage for or gives an alcoholic beverage to a minor. Deletes existing text providing that a person, except as provided in Subsection (b) of this section, commits an offense if he purchases an alcoholic beverage for or gives or with criminal negligence makes available an alcoholic beverage to a minor with criminal negligence.����

SECTION 3. Amends Section 106.06, Alcoholic Beverage Code, by amending Subsection (c) and adding Subsections (c-1) and (c-2), as follows:

(c) Creates exceptions under Subsections (c-1) and (c-2).

(c-1) Provides that an offense under Section 106.06 (Purchase of Alcohol for a Minor; Furnishing Alcohol to a Minor) is a state jail felony if it is shown on the trial of the offense that the person purchased an alcoholic beverage for or gave an alcoholic beverage to a minor who, as a result of the consumption of the alcoholic beverage, caused another person to suffer serious bodily injury or death.

(c-2) Provides that an offense under this section is a state jail felony if it is shown on the trial of the offense that the person who purchased the alcoholic beverage for or gave the alcoholic beverage to the minor is a public officer, as defined by Section 553.021 (Definition), Government Code.

SECTION 4. Makes application of this Act prospective.

SECTION 5. Effective date: September 1, 2023.