Bill Text: TX HB1286 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Enrolled


Bill Title: Relating to the prosecution and punishment of the offense of injury to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Passed) 2015-06-17 - Effective on 9/1/15 [HB1286 Detail]

Download: Texas-2015-HB1286-Enrolled.html
 
 
  H.B. No. 1286
 
 
 
 
AN ACT
  relating to the prosecution and punishment of 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.  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
                     (B)  [older than 14 years of age] who otherwise by
  reason of age or physical or mental disease, defect, or injury is
  substantially unable to protect the person's self [himself] from
  harm or to provide food, shelter, or medical care for the person's
  self [himself].
         SECTION 2.  Section 22.04, Penal Code, is amended by
  amending Subsection (l) and adding Subsection (m) to read as
  follows:
         (l)  It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this
  section:
               (1)  that the act or omission was based on treatment in
  accordance with the tenets and practices of a recognized religious
  method of healing with a generally accepted record of efficacy;
               (2)  for a person charged with an act of omission
  causing to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual a
  condition described by Subsection (a)(1), (2), or (3) that:
                     (A)  there is no evidence that, on the date prior
  to the offense charged, the defendant was aware of an incident of
  injury to the child, elderly individual, or disabled individual and
  failed to report the incident; and
                     (B)  the person:
                           (i)  was a victim of family violence, as that
  term is defined by Section 71.004, Family Code, committed by a
  person who is also charged with an offense against the child,
  elderly individual, or disabled individual under this section or
  any other section of this title;
                           (ii)  did not cause a condition described by
  Subsection (a)(1), (2), or (3); and
                           (iii)  did not reasonably believe at the
  time of the omission that an effort to prevent the person also
  charged with an offense against the child, elderly individual, or
  disabled individual from committing the offense would have an
  effect; or
               (3)  that:
                     (A)  the actor was not more than three years older
  than the victim at the time of the offense; and
                     (B)  the victim was a nondisabled or disabled
  child at the time of the offense.
         (m)  It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under
  Subsections (a)(1), (2), and (3) for injury to a disabled
  individual that the person did not know and could not reasonably
  have known that the individual was a disabled individual, as
  defined by Subsection (c), at the time of the offense.
         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 was
  committed before that date.
         SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.
 
 
  ______________________________ ______________________________
     President of the Senate Speaker of the House     
 
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 1286 was passed by the House on April
  13, 2015, by the following vote:  Yeas 142, Nays 0, 2 present, not
  voting.
 
  ______________________________
  Chief Clerk of the House   
 
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 1286 was passed by the Senate on May
  26, 2015, by the following vote:  Yeas 31, Nays 0.
 
  ______________________________
  Secretary of the Senate    
  APPROVED:  _____________________
                     Date          
   
            _____________________
                   Governor       
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