Bill Text: TX SB127 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to the offense of failure to report child abuse or neglect by certain professionals and the statute of limitations for that offense; harmonizing other statute of limitations provisions.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-11-12 - Filed [SB127 Detail]

Download: Texas-2025-SB127-Introduced.html

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89R4011 AMF-D
By: Hall S.B. No. 127

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the offense of failure to report child abuse or neglect
by certain professionals and the statute of limitations for that
offense; harmonizing other statute of limitations provisions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article 12.01, Code of Criminal Procedure, as
amended by Chapters 93 (S.B. 1527), 118 (H.B. 467), 127 (H.B. 1207),
422 (H.B. 1769), 520 (H.B. 3025), 689 (H.B. 1506), 704 (H.B. 2019),
709 (H.B. 2190), 768 (H.B. 4595), 830 (H.B. 2187), 885 (H.B. 4635),
and 1041 (S.B. 129), Acts of the 88th Legislature, Regular Session,
2023, is reenacted and amended to read as follows:
Art. 12.01. FELONIES. Except as provided in Articles
12.015 and 12.03, felony indictments may be presented within these
limits, and not afterward:
(1) no limitation:
(A) murder and manslaughter;
(B) sexual assault under Section 22.011(a)(2),
Penal Code, or aggravated sexual assault under Section
22.021(a)(1)(B), Penal Code;
(C) sexual assault, if:
(i) during the investigation of the offense
biological matter is collected and the matter:
(a) has not yet been subjected to
forensic DNA testing; or
(b) has been subjected to forensic DNA
testing and the testing results show that the matter does not match
the victim or any other person whose identity is readily
ascertained; or
(ii) probable cause exists to believe that
the defendant has committed the same or a similar sex offense
against five or more victims;
(D) continuous sexual abuse of young child or
disabled individual under Section 21.02, Penal Code;
(E) indecency with a child under Section 21.11,
Penal Code;
(F) an offense involving leaving the scene of a
collision under Section 550.021, Transportation Code, if the
collision resulted in the death of a person;
(G) trafficking of persons under Section
20A.02(a)(7) or (8), Penal Code;
(H) continuous trafficking of persons under
Section 20A.03, Penal Code;
(I) compelling prostitution under Section
43.05(a)(2) or (3), Penal Code; [or]
(J) tampering with physical evidence under
Section 37.09(a)(1) or (d)(1), Penal Code, if:
(i) the evidence tampered with is a human
corpse, as defined by that section; or
(ii) the investigation of the offense shows
that a reasonable person in the position of the defendant at the
time of the commission of the offense would have cause to believe
that the evidence tampered with is related to a criminal homicide
under Chapter 19, Penal Code;
(K) [(J)] interference with child custody under
Section 25.03(a)(3), Penal Code; or
(L) [(J)] burglary under Section 30.02, Penal
Code, if:
(i) the offense is punishable under
Subsection (d) of that section because the defendant entered a
habitation with the intent to commit an offense under Section
22.011 or 22.021, Penal Code; and
(ii) during the investigation of the
offense biological matter is collected and the matter:
(a) has not yet been subjected to
forensic DNA testing; or
(b) has been subjected to forensic DNA
testing and the testing results show that the matter does not match
the victim or any other person whose identity is readily
ascertained;
(2) ten years from the date of the commission of the
offense:
(A) theft of any estate, real, personal or mixed,
by an executor, administrator, guardian or trustee, with intent to
defraud any creditor, heir, legatee, ward, distributee,
beneficiary or settlor of a trust interested in such estate;
(B) theft by a public servant of government
property over which the public servant exercises control in the
public servant's official capacity;
(C) forgery or the uttering, using, or passing of
forged instruments;
(D) injury to an elderly or disabled individual
punishable as a felony of the first degree under Section 22.04,
Penal Code;
(E) sexual assault, except as provided by
Subdivision (1) or (9) [(8)];
(F) arson;
(G) trafficking of persons under Section
20A.02(a)(1), (2), (3), or (4), Penal Code; or
(H) compelling prostitution under Section
43.05(a)(1), Penal Code;
(3) seven years from the date of the commission of the
offense:
(A) misapplication of fiduciary property or
property of a financial institution;
(B) fraudulent securing of document execution;
(C) a felony violation under Chapter 162, Tax
Code;
(D) false statement to obtain property or credit
under Section 32.32, Penal Code;
(E) money laundering;
(F) credit card or debit card abuse under Section
32.31, Penal Code;
(G) fraudulent use or possession of identifying
information under Section 32.51, Penal Code;
(H) exploitation of a child, elderly individual,
or disabled individual under Section 32.53, Penal Code;
(I) health care fraud under Section 35A.02, Penal
Code;
(J) bigamy under Section 25.01, Penal Code,
except as provided by Subdivision (7); or
(K) possession or promotion of child pornography
under Section 43.26, Penal Code;
(4) five years from the date of the commission of the
offense:
(A) theft or robbery;
(B) except as provided by Subdivision (5),
kidnapping;
(C) [(B-1)] except as provided by Subdivision
(1) or (5), burglary;
(D) [(C)] injury to an elderly or disabled
individual that is not punishable as a felony of the first degree
under Section 22.04, Penal Code;
(E) [(D)] abandoning or endangering an [a
child,] elderly [individual,] or disabled individual;
(F) [(E)] insurance fraud;
(G) [(F)] assault under Section 22.01, Penal
Code, if the assault was committed against a person whose
relationship to or association with the defendant is described by
Section 71.0021(b), 71.003, or 71.005, Family Code;
(H) [(G)] continuous violence against the family
under Section 25.11, Penal Code; or
(I) [(H)] aggravated assault under Section
22.02, Penal Code;
(5) if the investigation of the offense shows that the
victim is younger than 17 years of age at the time the offense is
committed, 20 years from the 18th birthday of the victim of one of
the following offenses:
(A) kidnapping under Section 20.03, Penal Code,
or aggravated kidnapping under Section 20.04, Penal Code; or
(B) subject to Subdivision (1)(L) [(1)(J)],
burglary under Section 30.02, Penal Code, if the offense is
punishable under Subsection (d) of that section because the
defendant entered a habitation with the intent to commit an offense
described by Subdivision (1)(B) or (D) of this article or Paragraph
(A) of this subdivision;
(6) 20 years from the 18th birthday of the victim of
one of the following offenses:
(A) trafficking of a child [persons] under
Section 20A.02(a)(5) or (6), Penal Code; or
(B) sexual performance by a child under Section
43.25, Penal Code;
(7) ten years from the 18th birthday of the victim of
the offense:
(A) injury to a child under Section 22.04, Penal
Code;
(B) bigamy under Section 25.01, Penal Code, if
the investigation of the offense shows that the person, other than
the legal spouse of the defendant, whom the defendant marries or
purports to marry or with whom the defendant lives under the
appearance of being married is younger than 18 years of age at the
time the offense is committed; or
(C) [(D)] abandoning or endangering a child;
(8) [(7)] ten years from the date the offense was
discovered: trafficking of a disabled individual under Section
20A.02(a)(5) or (6), Penal Code;
(9) four years from the date the offense was
discovered: failure to report child abuse or neglect if the offense
is punishable as a state jail felony under Section 261.109(c),
Family Code;
(10) [(8)] two years from the date the offense was
discovered: sexual assault punishable as a state jail felony under
Section 22.011(f)(2), Penal Code; or
(11) [(9)] three years from the date of the commission
of the offense: all other felonies.
SECTION 2. Article 12.02, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c) to
read as follows:
(a) Except as provided by Subsections [Subsection] (b) and
(c), the following charging instruments may be presented within two
years from the date of the commission of the offense, and not
afterward:
(1) an indictment or information for any Class A or
Class B misdemeanor; and
(2) a complaint or information for any Class C
misdemeanor.
(c) An indictment or information, as applicable, for
failure to report child abuse or neglect may be presented within
three years from the date the offense was discovered, and not
afterward, if the offense is punishable as a Class A misdemeanor
under Section 261.109(c), Family Code.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act does not apply
to the prosecution of an offense that is punishable under Section
261.109(c), Family Code, if the prosecution of that offense becomes
barred by limitation before the effective date of this Act. The
prosecution of that offense remains barred as if this Act had not
taken effect.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.