unlawful restraint or seclusion by school workers counts as abuse

The text as introduced · 1,437 words

89R2756 MLH-F

By: Dutton
H.B. No. 2235

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the definitions of abuse and neglect of a child.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 71.004, Family Code, is amended to read

as follows:

Sec. 71.004. FAMILY VIOLENCE. "Family violence" means:

(1) an act by a member of a family or household against

another member of the family or household that is intended to result

in physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or sexual assault or that

is a threat that reasonably places the member in fear of imminent

physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or sexual assault, but does

not include defensive measures to protect oneself;

(2) abuse, as that term is defined by Sections

261.001(1)(A)(iii), (v), (vii), (viii), (ix), (x), (xi), and (xiii)

[ 261.001(1)(C), (E), (G), (H), (I), (J), (K), and (M) ], by a member

of a family or household toward a child of the family or household;

or

(3) dating violence, as that term is defined by

Section 71.0021.

SECTION 2. Sections 261.001(1) and (4), Family Code, are

amended to read as follows:

(1) "Abuse" includes :

(A) the following acts or omissions by a person:

(i) [ (A) ] mental or emotional injury to a

child that results in an observable and material impairment in the

child's growth, development, or psychological functioning;

(ii) [ (B) ] causing or permitting the child

to be in a situation in which the child sustains a mental or

emotional injury that results in an observable and material

impairment in the child's growth, development, or psychological

functioning;

(iii) [ (C) ] physical injury that results in

substantial harm to the child, or the genuine threat of substantial

harm from physical injury to the child, including an injury that is

at variance with the history or explanation given and excluding an

accident or reasonable discipline by a parent, guardian, or

managing or possessory conservator that does not expose the child

to a substantial risk of harm;

(iv) [ (D) ] failure to make a reasonable

effort to prevent an action by another person that results in

physical injury that results in substantial harm to the child;

(v) [ (E) ] sexual conduct harmful to a

child's mental, emotional, or physical welfare, including conduct

that constitutes the offense of continuous sexual abuse of young

child or disabled individual under Section 21.02, Penal Code,

indecency with a child under Section 21.11, Penal Code, sexual

assault under Section 22.011, Penal Code, or aggravated sexual

assault under Section 22.021, Penal Code;

(vi) [ (F) ] failure to make a reasonable

effort to prevent sexual conduct harmful to a child;

(vii) [ (G) ] compelling or encouraging the

child to engage in sexual conduct as defined by Section 43.01, Penal

Code, including compelling or encouraging the child in a manner

that constitutes an offense of trafficking of persons under Section

20A.02(a)(7) or (8), Penal Code, solicitation of prostitution under

Section 43.021, Penal Code, or compelling prostitution under

Section 43.05(a)(2), Penal Code;

(viii) [ (H) ] causing, permitting,

encouraging, engaging in, or allowing the photographing, filming,

or depicting of the child if the person knew or should have known

that the resulting photograph, film, or depiction of the child is

obscene as defined by Section 43.21, Penal Code, or pornographic;

(ix) [ (I) ] the current use by a person of a

controlled substance as defined by Chapter 481, Health and Safety

Code, in a manner or to the extent that the use results in physical,

mental, or emotional injury to a child;

(x) [ (J) ] causing, expressly permitting,

or encouraging a child to use a controlled substance as defined by

Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code;

(xi) [ (K) ] causing, permitting,

encouraging, engaging in, or allowing a sexual performance by a

child as defined by Section 43.25, Penal Code;

(xii) [ (L) ] knowingly causing, permitting,

encouraging, engaging in, or allowing a child to be trafficked in a

manner punishable as an offense under Section 20A.02(a)(5), (6),

(7), or (8), Penal Code, or the failure to make a reasonable effort

to prevent a child from being trafficked in a manner punishable as

an offense under any of those sections; or

(xiii) [ (M) ] forcing or coercing a child to

enter into a marriage ; and

(B) an employee, volunteer, or other individual

working under the auspices of a school, facility, or program using a

form of restraint on a child or secluding a child in a manner that

does not comply with federal law, state law, state rules, or other

applicable regulations for the school, facility, or program .

(4) "Neglect" means an act or failure to act by a

person responsible for a child's care, custody, or welfare

evidencing the person's blatant disregard for the consequences of

the act or failure to act that results in harm to the child or that

creates an immediate danger to the child's physical health or

safety and:

(A) includes:

(i) the leaving of a child in a situation

where the child would be exposed to an immediate danger of physical

or mental harm, without arranging for necessary care for the child,

and the demonstration of an intent not to return by a parent,

guardian, or managing or possessory conservator of the child;

(ii) the following acts or omissions by a

person:

(a) placing a child in or failing to

remove a child from a situation that a reasonable person would

realize requires judgment or actions beyond the child's level of

maturity, physical condition, or mental abilities and that results

in bodily injury or an immediate danger of harm to the child;

(b) failing to seek, obtain, or follow

through with medical care for a child, with the failure resulting in

or presenting an immediate danger of death, disfigurement, or

bodily injury or with the failure resulting in an observable and

material impairment to the growth, development, or functioning of

the child;

(c) the failure to provide a child

with food, clothing, or shelter necessary to sustain the life or

health of the child, excluding failure caused primarily by

financial inability unless relief services had been offered and

refused;

(d) placing a child in or failing to

remove the child from a situation in which the child would be

exposed to an immediate danger of sexual conduct harmful to the

child; or

(e) placing a child in or failing to

remove the child from a situation in which the child would be

exposed to acts or omissions that constitute abuse under

Subdivision (1)(A)(v), (vi), (vii), (viii), or (xi) [ (1)(E), (F),

(G), (H), or (K) ] committed against another child;

(iii) the failure by the person responsible

for a child's care, custody, or welfare to permit the child to

return to the child's home without arranging for the necessary care

for the child after the child has been absent from the home for any

reason, including having been in residential placement or having

run away; or

(iv) a negligent act or omission by an

employee, volunteer, or other individual working under the auspices

of a school, facility , or program, including failure to comply with

an individual treatment plan, plan of care, or individualized

service plan, that causes or may cause substantial emotional harm

or physical injury to, or the death of, a child served by the

school, facility , or program as further described by rule or

policy; and

(B) does not include:

(i) the refusal by a person responsible for

a child's care, custody, or welfare to permit the child to remain in

or return to the child's home resulting in the placement of the

child in the conservatorship of the department if:

(a) the child has a severe emotional

disturbance;

(b) the person's refusal is based

solely on the person's inability to obtain mental health services

necessary to protect the safety and well-being of the child; and

(c) the person has exhausted all

reasonable means available to the person to obtain the mental

health services described by Sub-subparagraph (b);

(ii) allowing the child to engage in

independent activities that are appropriate and typical for the

child's level of maturity, physical condition, developmental

abilities, or culture; or

(iii) a decision by a person responsible

for a child's care, custody, or welfare to:

(a) obtain an opinion from more than

one medical provider relating to the child's medical care;

(b) transfer the child's medical care

to a new medical provider; or

(c) transfer the child to another

health care facility.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.