Bill Text: TX HB1421 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to increasing the criminal penalty for a peace officer who fails to report the suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation of an elderly person or a person with a disability.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-03-03 - Referred to Human Services [HB1421 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-HB1421-Introduced.html

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88R7784 MZM-D
By: Campos H.B. No. 1421

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to increasing the criminal penalty for a peace officer who
fails to report the suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation of an
elderly person or a person with a disability.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 48.052(a), Human Resources Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) A person commits an offense if the person has cause to
believe that an elderly person or person with a disability has been
abused, neglected, or exploited or is in the state of abuse,
neglect, or exploitation and knowingly fails to report in
accordance with this chapter. An offense under this subsection is a
Class A misdemeanor, except that the offense is a state jail felony
if it is shown on the trial of the offense that:
(1) the abused, neglected, or exploited person is a
person with an intellectual disability who resided in a state
supported living center, the ICF-IID component of the Rio Grande
State Center, or a facility licensed under Chapter 252, Health and
Safety Code, and the actor knew that the person had suffered serious
bodily injury as a result of the abuse, neglect, or exploitation; or
(2) the actor is a peace officer who encountered the
abused, neglected, or exploited person in the course of discharging
duties as a peace officer.
SECTION 2. 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 occurred
before that date.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.