Amend CSSB 12 (house committee report) as follows:

(1)  On page 17, line 14, between "well-being" and the underlined period, insert ", including any suspected instances of the student social transitioning. For purposes of this section, "social transitioning" means an act by which a student adopts or espouses a gender identity that differs from the student's biological sex at birth. The term includes a change in name or pronouns or other expressions of gender that deny or encourage a denial of the person's biological sex at birth".

(2)  On page 17, line 27, between "well-being" and the underlined semicolon, insert ", including any social transitioning".

(3)  On page 18, line 17, between "well-being" and the underlined period, insert ", including any social transitioning".

(4)  On page 32, between lines 4 and 5, insert the following:

(5)  Add the following appropriately numbered SECTIONS to the bill and renumber subsequent SECTIONS of the bill accordingly:

SECTION ____.  Section 261.001, Family Code, is amended by adding Subdivision (1-a) and amending Subdivision (4) to read as follows:

(4)  "Neglect" means an act or failure to act by a person responsible for a child's care, custody, or welfare evidencing the person's blatant disregard for the consequences of the act or failure to act that 'results in harm to the child or that creates an immediate danger to the child's physical health or safety and:

(A)  includes:

(i)  the leaving of a child in a situation where the child would be exposed to an immediate danger of physical or mental harm, without arranging for necessary care for the child, and the demonstration of an intent not to return by a parent, guardian, or managing or possessory conservator of the child;

(ii)  the following acts or omissions by a person:

(a)  placing a child in or failing to remove a child from a situation that a reasonable person would realize requires judgment or actions beyond the child's level of maturity, physical condition, or mental abilities and that results in bodily injury or an immediate danger of harm to the child;

(b)  failing to seek, obtain, or follow through with medical care for a child, with the failure resulting in or presenting an immediate danger of death, disfigurement, or bodily injury or with the failure resulting in an observable and material impairment to the growth, development, or functioning of the child;

(c)  the failure to provide a child with food, clothing, or shelter necessary to sustain the life or health of the child, excluding failure caused primarily by financial inability unless relief services had been offered and refused;

(d)  placing a child in or failing to remove the child from a. situation in which the child would be exposed to an immediate danger of sexual conduct harmful to the child; or

(e)  placing a child in or failing to remove the child from a situation in which the child would be exposed to acts or omissions that constitute abuse under Subdivision (1)(E), (F), (G), (H), or (K) committed against another child;

(iii)  the failure by the person responsible for a child's care, custody, or welfare to permit the child to return to the child's home without arranging for the necessary care for the child after the child has been. absent from the home for any reason, including having been in residential placement or having run away; or

(iv)  a negligent act or omission by an employee, volunteer, or other individual working under the auspices of a facility or program, including failure to comply with an individual treatment Plan, Plan of care, or individualized service plan, that causes or may cause substantial emotional harm or physical injury to, or the death of, a child served by the facility or program as further described by rule or policy; and

(B)  does not include:

(i)  the refusal by a person responsible for a child's care, custody, or welfare to permit the child to remain in or return to the child's home resulting in the placement of the child in the conservatorship of the department if:

(a)  the child has a severe emotional disturbance;

(b)  the person's refusal is based solely on the person's inability to obtain mental health services necessary to protect the safety and well-being of the child; and

(c)  the person has exhausted all reasonable means available to the person to obtain the mental health services described by Sub-subparagraph (b);

(ii)  allowing the child to engage in independent activities that are appropriate and typical for the child's level of maturity, physical condition, developmental abilities, or culture; [or]

(iii)  a decision by a person responsible for a child's care, custody, or welfare to:

(a)  obtain an opinion from more than one medical provider relating to the child's medical care;

(b)  transfer the child's medical care to a new medical provider; or

(c)  transfer the child to another health care facility; or