88R695 MCK-F
 
  By: Hefner H.B. No. 672
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the definition of child abuse and the prosecution of the
  criminal offense of abandoning or endangering 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, Family Code, is amended by
  amending Subdivision (1) and adding Subdivision (3-a) to read as
  follows:
               (1)  "Abuse":
                     (A)  includes 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;
                           (xiv)  administering or supplying, or
  consenting to or assisting in the administration or supply of, a
  puberty suppression prescription drug or cross-sex hormone to a
  child, other than an intersex child, for the purpose of gender
  transitioning or gender reassignment; or
                           (xv)  performing or consenting to the
  performance of surgery or another medical procedure on a child,
  other than an intersex child, for the purpose of gender
  transitioning or gender reassignment; and 
                     (B)  does not include an act described by
  Subparagraph (xiv) if the act is the dispensing or delivery of a
  drug in accordance with Subtitle J, Title 3, Occupations Code, by a
  person licensed under that subtitle.
               (3-a)  "Intersex child" means a child who is younger
  than 18 years of age and either:
                     (A)  has inborn chromosomal, gonadal, genital, or
  endocrine characteristics, or a combination of those
  characteristics, that are not suited to the typical definition of
  male or female or are atypical for the determined sex of the child;
  or
                     (B)  is considered by a medical professional to
  have inborn chromosomal, gonadal, genital, or endocrine
  characteristics that are ambiguous or atypical for the determined
  sex of the child.
         SECTION 3.  Section 22.041, Penal Code, is amended by
  amending Subsections (a) and (c-1) and adding Subsections (c-2) and
  (c-3) to read as follows:
         (a)  In this section:
               (1)  "Abandon"[, "abandon"] means to leave a child in
  any place without providing reasonable and necessary care for the
  child, under circumstances under which no reasonable, similarly
  situated adult would leave a child of that age and ability.
               (2)  "Intersex child" means a child who is younger than
  15 years of age and either:
                     (A)  has inborn chromosomal, gonadal, genital, or
  endocrine characteristics, or a combination of those
  characteristics, that are not suited to the typical definition of
  male or female or are atypical for the determined sex of the child;
  or
                     (B)  is considered by a medical professional to
  have inborn chromosomal, gonadal, genital, or endocrine
  characteristics that are ambiguous or atypical for the determined
  sex of the child.
         (c-1)  For purposes of Subsection (c), it is presumed that a
  person engaged in conduct that places a child in imminent danger of
  death, bodily injury, or physical or mental impairment if:
               (1)  the person manufactured, possessed, or in any way
  introduced into the body of any person the controlled substance
  methamphetamine in the presence of the child;
               (2)  the person's conduct related to the proximity or
  accessibility of the controlled substance methamphetamine to the
  child and an analysis of a specimen of the child's blood, urine, or
  other bodily substance indicates the presence of methamphetamine in
  the child's body; [or]
               (3)  the person injected, ingested, inhaled, or
  otherwise introduced a controlled substance listed in Penalty Group
  1, Section 481.102, Health and Safety Code, or Penalty Group 1-B,
  Section 481.1022, Health and Safety Code, into the human body when
  the person was not in lawful possession of the substance as defined
  by Section 481.002(24) of that code;
               (4)  the person administers or supplies, or consents to
  or assists in the administering or supplying of, a puberty
  suppression prescription drug or cross-sex hormone to a child for
  the purpose of gender transitioning or gender reassignment; or
               (5)  the person performs or consents to the performance
  of surgery or another medical procedure on a child for the purpose
  of gender transitioning or gender reassignment.
         (c-2)  The presumptions provided by Subsections (c-1)(4) and
  (5) do not apply to conduct described by those subsections that
  involves an intersex child.
         (c-3)  The presumption provided by Subsection (c-1)(4) does
  not apply to conduct described by that subsection if the conduct is
  the dispensing or delivery of a drug in accordance with Subtitle J,
  Title 3, Occupations Code, by a person licensed under that
  subtitle.
         SECTION 4.  The changes in law made by this Act apply 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 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.