Honorable Dan Patrick, Lieutenant Governor, Senate Honorable Dustin Burrows, Speaker of the House, House of Representatives
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB441 by Hinojosa, Juan "Chuy" (Relating to criminal and civil liability related to sexually explicit media and artificial intimate visual material; creating a criminal offense; increasing a criminal penalty.), Conference Committee Report
The bill would expand the conduct constituting the offense of unlawful production or distribution of certain sexually explicit videos by including deep fake media as defined in the bill and threats to produce or distribute such media, by excluding the intent to deceive as an element of the offense, by narrowing the definition of exculpatory consent, and by disallowing certain defense to prosecution. The bill would increase the punishment related to production and distribution from a Class A misdemeanor to a third degree felony for an individual previously convicted of the offense or if the person appearing to be depicted is younger than 18 years of age. The punishment related to threats to produce and distribute would be a Class B misdemeanor, enhanced to a Class A misdemeanor for an individual previously convicted of the offense or if the person appearing to be depicted is younger than 18 years of age.
Expanding the conduct constituting and modifying the penalty for an existing offense may result in additional demands upon state and local correctional resources due to a possible increase in the number of individuals placed under supervision in the community or sentenced to a term of confinement.
In fiscal year 2024, there were four arrests, three referrals, no individuals placed on adult community supervision, and no individuals admitted into an adult state correctional institution for the offense of unlawful production or distribution of certain sexually explicit videos.
It is assumed that any impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources would not be significant.