Bill Text: TX HB1559 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Relating to the prosecution of the offenses of indecency with a child and sexual assault.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-03-03 - Referred to Criminal Jurisprudence [HB1559 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-HB1559-Introduced.html

---

88R1581 LHC-D
By: Schatzline H.B. No. 1559

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the prosecution of the offenses of indecency with a
child and sexual assault.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 21.11(a), Penal Code, is amended to read
as follows:
(a) A person commits an offense if, with a child younger
than 18 [17] years of age, whether the child is of the same or
opposite sex and regardless of whether the person knows the age of
the child at the time of the offense, the person:
(1) engages in sexual contact with the child or causes
the child to engage in sexual contact; or
(2) with intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire
of any person:
(A) exposes the person's anus or any part of the
person's genitals, knowing the child is present; or
(B) causes the child to expose the child's anus
or any part of the child's genitals.
SECTION 2. Section 22.011(c)(1), Penal Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(1) "Child" means a person younger than 18 [17] years
of age.
SECTION 3. Section 1(1), Article 38.074, Code of Criminal
Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
(1) "Child" means a person younger than 17 years of age
[has the meaning assigned by Section 22.011(c), Penal Code].
SECTION 4. Article 42A.453(c), Code of Criminal Procedure,
is amended to read as follows:
(c) If a judge grants community supervision to a defendant
described by Subsection (b) and the judge determines that a child
younger than 17 years of age [as defined by Section 22.011(c), Penal
Code,] was the victim of the offense, the judge shall establish a
child safety zone applicable to the defendant by requiring as a
condition of community supervision that the defendant:
(1) not:
(A) supervise or participate in any program that:
(i) includes as participants or recipients
persons who are 17 years of age or younger; and
(ii) regularly provides athletic, civic, or
cultural activities; or
(B) go in, on, or within 1,000 feet of a premises
where children commonly gather, including a school, day-care
facility, playground, public or private youth center, public
swimming pool, video arcade facility, or general residential
operation operating as a residential treatment center; and
(2) attend psychological counseling sessions for sex
offenders with an individual or organization that provides sex
offender treatment or counseling as specified or approved by the
judge or the defendant's supervision officer.
SECTION 5. Section 508.187(b), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b) A parole panel shall establish a child safety zone
applicable to a releasee if the panel determines that a child
younger than 17 years of age [as defined by Section 22.011(c), Penal
Code,] was the victim of the offense, by requiring as a condition of
parole or mandatory supervision that the releasee:
(1) not:
(A) supervise or participate in any program that
includes as participants or recipients persons who are 17 years of
age or younger and that regularly provides athletic, civic, or
cultural activities; or
(B) go in, on, or within a distance specified by
the panel of premises where children commonly gather, including a
school, day-care facility, playground, public or private youth
center, public swimming pool, or video arcade facility; and
(2) attend for a period of time determined necessary
by the panel psychological counseling sessions for sex offenders
with an individual or organization that provides sex offender
treatment or counseling as specified by the parole officer
supervising the releasee after release.
SECTION 6. The changes in law made by this Act apply 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 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.