Bill Text: TX HB4624 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to gender modification procedures and treatments for certain minors; providing a civil penalty.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-03-22 - Referred to Public Health [HB4624 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HB4624-Introduced.html
88R10569 EAS-D | ||
By: Leach | H.B. No. 4624 |
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relating to gender modification procedures and treatments for | ||
certain minors; providing a civil penalty. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. GENDER MODIFICATION PROCEDURES AND | ||
TREATMENTS. Chapter 161, Health and Safety Code, is amended by | ||
adding Subchapter X to read as follows: | ||
SUBCHAPTER X. GENDER MODIFICATION PROCEDURES AND TREATMENTS ON | ||
MINORS | ||
Sec. 161.701. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter: | ||
(1) "Congenital defect" means a physical or chemical | ||
abnormality present in a minor that is inconsistent with the normal | ||
development of a human being of the minor's sex, including | ||
abnormalities caused by a medically verifiable disorder of sex | ||
development. The term does not include gender dysphoria, gender | ||
identity disorder, gender incongruence, or any mental condition, | ||
disorder, disability, or abnormality. | ||
(2) "Gender modification procedure or treatment" | ||
means a health care procedure or treatment performed or | ||
administered for the purpose of: | ||
(A) enabling a minor to identify with, or live | ||
as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor's sex; or | ||
(B) treating purported discomfort or distress | ||
from a discordance between the minor's sex and asserted identity. | ||
(3) "Health care procedure or treatment" includes: | ||
(A) surgically removing, modifying, altering, or | ||
entering into tissues, cavities, or organs of a human being; or | ||
(B) prescribing, administering, or dispensing | ||
any drug or device to a human being. | ||
(4) "Health care provider" means an individual or | ||
facility licensed, certified, or otherwise authorized by this | ||
state's laws to provide or render health care or to dispense or | ||
prescribe a prescription drug in the ordinary course of business or | ||
practice of a profession. | ||
(5) "Minor" means an individual who is younger than 18 | ||
years of age for whom the disabilities of minority have not been | ||
removed. | ||
(6) "Sex" means an individual's immutable | ||
characteristics of the reproductive system that define the | ||
individual as male or female, as determined by anatomy and genetics | ||
existing at the time of birth. | ||
Sec. 161.702. CONSTRUCTION OF SUBCHAPTER. (a) This | ||
subchapter is remedial in nature and must be liberally construed to | ||
accomplish its purposes. | ||
(b) This subchapter may not be construed to impose liability | ||
on a minor on whom a gender modification procedure or treatment is | ||
performed or administered in violation of Section 161.703. | ||
Sec. 161.703. PROHIBITED GENDER MODIFICATION PROCEDURES | ||
AND TREATMENTS FOR CERTAIN MINORS. Except as provided by Section | ||
161.704, a health care provider may not perform or offer to perform | ||
on a minor, or administer or offer to administer to a minor, a | ||
gender modification procedure or treatment. | ||
Sec. 161.704. EXCEPTIONS. (a) This subchapter does not | ||
apply to a health care provider performing, offering to perform, | ||
administering, or offering to administer a health care procedure or | ||
treatment to a minor if the performance or administration of the | ||
procedure or treatment is to treat a minor's congenital defect, | ||
disease, or physical injury. | ||
(b) For purposes of Subsection (a), "disease" does not | ||
include: | ||
(1) gender dysphoria, gender identity disorder, or | ||
gender incongruence; or | ||
(2) any mental condition, disorder, disability, or | ||
abnormality. | ||
(c) This subchapter does not apply to a health care provider | ||
performing, offering to perform, administering, or offering to | ||
administer a health care procedure or treatment to a minor if the | ||
performance or administration of the procedure or treatment is | ||
continuing a procedure or treatment on the minor that began before | ||
September 1, 2023, and the minor's treating physician certifies in | ||
writing that, in the physician's good-faith medical judgment, based | ||
on the facts known to the physician at the time, ending the | ||
procedure or treatment would be harmful to the minor. | ||
(c-1) The certification under Subsection (c) must include | ||
the physician's findings supporting the certification and must be | ||
placed in the minor's medical record. | ||
(c-2) Subsection (c) may not be construed to: | ||
(1) allow a health care provider to perform or | ||
administer a gender modification procedure or treatment that is | ||
different from the gender modification procedure or treatment | ||
performed before September 1, 2023; and | ||
(2) waive a minor's right to bring an action under | ||
Section 161.706 for a gender modification procedure or treatment | ||
that does not comply with this subchapter after September 1, 2023. | ||
(c-3) This subsection and Subsections (c), (c-1), and (c-2) | ||
expire September 1, 2033. | ||
Sec. 161.705. EFFECT OF CONSENT. (a) It is not a defense to | ||
any legal liability incurred as the result of a violation of Section | ||
161.703 that the minor, or a parent, legal guardian, or conservator | ||
of the minor, consented to the conduct that constituted the | ||
violation. | ||
(b) This subchapter supersedes any other law regarding a | ||
minor's ability to consent to a gender modification procedure or | ||
treatment. | ||
Sec. 161.706. CIVIL ACTION; EFFECT ON IMMUNITY. (a) A | ||
minor injured as a result of a violation of Section 161.703, or a | ||
parent, legal guardian, or managing conservator of the minor, other | ||
than a parent, guardian, or conservator described by Subdivision | ||
(2), may bring a civil action against: | ||
(1) a health care provider who violated Section | ||
161.703; and | ||
(2) the minor's parent, legal guardian, or conservator | ||
who consented to the conduct that constituted the violation. | ||
(b) Subsection (a)(2) waives any common law immunity | ||
granted to a parent, legal guardian, or conservator to the extent of | ||
liability created by this section. | ||
Sec. 161.707. WRONGFUL DEATH ACTION. A parent, legal | ||
guardian, or conservator or next of kin of a minor may bring a | ||
wrongful death action under Section 161.706 in accordance with | ||
Subchapter A, Chapter 71, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, against | ||
a health care provider who violates Section 161.703 if the minor who | ||
is the subject of the action is deceased and: | ||
(1) the minor's death is the result of the physical or | ||
emotional harm inflicted on the minor by the violation; and | ||
(2) the parent, guardian, or conservator did not | ||
consent to the conduct that constituted the violation. | ||
Sec. 161.708. LIMITATIONS PERIOD. Notwithstanding any | ||
other law, a claimant must bring an action under Section 161.706 not | ||
later than the earlier of: | ||
(1) the 30th anniversary of the date the minor who is | ||
the subject of the action becomes 18 years of age; or | ||
(2) the 10th anniversary of the minor's death. | ||
Sec. 161.709. DAMAGES. (a) A claimant may recover | ||
compensatory damages, exemplary damages, and reasonable attorney's | ||
fees, court costs, and expenses in an action brought under Section | ||
161.706. | ||
(b) Compensatory damages include: | ||
(1) reasonable economic losses caused by the | ||
emotional, mental, or physical effects of the violation, including: | ||
(A) the cost of counseling, hospitalization, and | ||
any other medical expenses connected with treating the harm caused | ||
by the violation; | ||
(B) out-of-pocket costs of the minor paid to the | ||
health care provider for the prohibited medical procedure; and | ||
(C) loss of income caused by the violation; and | ||
(2) noneconomic damages caused by the violation, | ||
including psychological and emotional anguish. | ||
Sec. 161.710. REQUIRED NOTICE OF KNOWING OR INTENTIONAL | ||
VIOLATION. If a court finds that a defendant knowingly or | ||
intentionally violated Section 161.703 in an action brought under | ||
Section 161.706, the court shall notify the appropriate state | ||
regulatory authority for the defendant and the attorney general by | ||
mailing a certified copy of the signed judgment for the action to | ||
the state regulatory authority and the attorney general. | ||
Sec. 161.711. ATTORNEY GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES; CIVIL | ||
PENALTY. (a) The attorney general shall establish a process by | ||
which knowing or intentional violations of Section 161.703 are | ||
reported. | ||
(b) The attorney general may bring an action against a | ||
health care provider who knowingly or intentionally violates | ||
Section 161.703 not later than the 20th anniversary of the | ||
violation to: | ||
(1) enjoin further violations; | ||
(2) recover any profits received due to the procedure | ||
or treatment that is the subject of the violation; and | ||
(3) recover a civil penalty in an amount of $25,000 per | ||
violation. | ||
(c) The attorney general shall deposit a civil penalty | ||
collected under this section in the general revenue fund. | ||
(d) The attorney general is entitled to reasonable | ||
attorney's fees, court costs, and expenses if the attorney general | ||
prevails in an action brought under this section. | ||
(e) Venue for an action brought under this section is in a | ||
district court of Williamson County or the county where the | ||
violation occurred. | ||
Sec. 161.712. STATE REGULATORY AUTHORITY EMERGENCY ACTION. | ||
A violation of Section 161.703 constitutes a potential threat to | ||
public health, safety, and welfare and requires emergency action by | ||
the health care provider's appropriate state regulatory authority. | ||
On receiving notification under Section 161.710 or when the | ||
authority otherwise becomes aware of the violation, the authority | ||
shall take appropriate disciplinary action against the provider. | ||
SECTION 2. SEVERABILITY. If any provision of this Act or | ||
its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the | ||
invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of this | ||
Act that can be given effect without the invalid provision or | ||
application, and to this end the provisions of this Act are declared | ||
to be severable. | ||
SECTION 3. TRANSITIONS. (a) Subchapter X, Chapter 161, | ||
Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, applies only to a | ||
medical procedure or treatment performed or administered on or | ||
after the effective date of this Act. | ||
(b) Subchapter X, Chapter 161, Health and Safety Code, as | ||
added by this Act, applies only to a cause of action that accrues on | ||
or after the effective date of this Act. | ||
SECTION 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act takes effect September | ||
1, 2023. |