Second-degree felony when the victim is disabled or elderly.
This bill raises the penalty for indecent assault, an existing Penal Code offense, to a second-degree felony when the victim is a disabled or elderly individual. It touches anyone charged under that section with a victim who meets the definitions of disabled or elderly individual that the Penal Code already uses for injury cases. Starting September 1, 2025, conduct that would otherwise be a Class A misdemeanor or a lower felony carries a second-degree felony penalty when it targets those victims.
Labels
Labels: ACROSS THE AISLE. Joint authors: 2 Republicans, 2 Democrats. Party as the Legislative Reference Library lists it for the 89th Legislature.
relating to increasing the criminal penalty for the offense of
indecent assault against a disabled or elderly individual.
WHAT IT DOES
Second-degree felony when the victim is disabled or elderly.
This bill raises the penalty for indecent assault, an existing Penal Code offense, to a second-degree felony when the victim is a disabled or elderly individual. It touches anyone charged under that section with a victim who meets the definitions of disabled or elderly individual that the Penal Code already uses for injury cases. Starting September 1, 2025, conduct that would otherwise be a Class A misdemeanor or a lower felony carries a second-degree felony penalty when it targets those victims.
CHARGES
[ ] NONE FOUND
TOTAL
No first-year general revenue figure available here.
Increasing the penalty for an existing offense may result in increased demands upon state correctional resources due to a possible increase in the number of individuals placed under supervision in the community or sentenced to a term of confinement. The fiscal implications of the bill cannot be determined due to the lack of data to estimate the prevalence of conduct outlined in the bill's provisions that would be subject to increased criminal penalties.
LBB published estimates · flow over the stated periods.
Source snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.
HISTORY
Filed
Read first time
Referred to Criminal Jurisprudence
Referred directly to subcommittee by chair
Scheduled for public hearing in s/c on . . .
Considered by s/c in public hearing
Testimony taken/registration(s) recorded in subcommittee
Left pending in subcommittee
Recalled from subcommittee
Considered in formal meeting
Left pending in committee
Considered in formal meeting
Reported favorably w/o amendment(s)
Comte report filed with Committee Coordinator
Committee report distributed
Committee report sent to Calendars
Considered in Calendars
Placed on General State Calendar
Read 2nd time
Passed to engrossment
Record vote RV#2739
Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
Read 3rd time
Postponed 5/16/25 12:30 PM
Laid out as postponed business
Passed
Record vote RV#2886
Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
Reported engrossed
Received from the House
Read first time
Referred to Criminal Justice
Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
Considered in public hearing
Vote taken in committee
Reported favorably w/o amendments
Committee report printed and distributed
Placed on intent calendar
Rules suspended-Regular order of business
Read 2nd time & passed to 3rd reading
Vote recorded in Journal
Three day rule suspended
Record vote
Read 3rd time
Passed
Record vote
Senate passage reported
Reported enrolled
Signed in the House
Signed in the Senate
Sent to the Governor
Signed by the Governor
Effective on 9/1/25
FILED UNDER
No verified beat found.
SIGNED FOR BY
House · 124 yea · 0 nay
Senate · 30 yea · 1 nay
Sources
House: Final passage · May 16, 2025. Journal. Published stock for this vote. Snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.
Senate: Final passage · May 26, 2025. Journal. Published stock for this vote. Snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.
Names were not printed for yea. Only the named positions are included in member records.
Sources
Senator Huffman moved that Senate Rule 7.18 and the Constitutional Rule requiring bills to be read on three several days be suspended and that HB 2593 be placed on its third reading and final passage. The motion prevailed by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 1.
Published stock of positions for this vote, except where marked derived.
Yea: 30 (published)
Nay: 1 (published)
Present, not voting: Not printed
Absent: Not printed
Excused: Not printed
Senate journal. Source snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.
Names were not printed for yea. Only the named positions are included in member records.
Voice vote. No numeric tally or individual yeas are inferred.
Sources
Senator Huffman moved to suspend the regular order of business to take up for consideration HB 2593 at this time on its second reading: HB 2593, Relating to increasing the criminal penalty for the offense of indecent assault against a disabled or elderly individual. The motion prevailed. Senator Eckhardt asked to be recorded as voting "Nay" on suspension of the regular order of business. The bill was read second time and was passed to third reading by a viva voce vote.
Published stock of positions for this vote, except where marked derived.
Yea: Not printed
Nay: Not printed
Present, not voting: Not printed
Absent: Not printed
Excused: Not printed
Senate journal. Source snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.
Increasing the penalty for an existing offense may result in increased demands upon state correctional resources due to a possible increase in the number of individuals placed under supervision in the community or sentenced to a term of confinement. The fiscal implications of the bill cannot be determined due to the lack of data to estimate the prevalence of conduct outlined in the bill's provisions that would be subject to increased criminal penalties.
LBB published estimates · flow over the stated periods.
Source snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.
How this was graded
Analysis of text version I by claude-opus-5-5, Oct 20, 2026, against the published rubric.
House committee · Criminal Jurisprudence · Committee vote 9 aye, 2 nay · Out of committee
Senate committee · Criminal Justice · Committee vote 7 aye, 0 nay · Out of committee
Subjects
Aging
Crimes--Against Persons--General
Crimes--Against Persons--Sexual
Disabilities, Persons with
Text
The text as introduced · 354 words
89R9075 JDK-F
By: Metcalf
H.B. No. 2593
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to increasing the criminal penalty for the offense of
indecent assault against a disabled or elderly individual.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 22.012(b) and (d), Penal Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(b) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor,
except that the offense is:
(1) a state jail felony if it is shown on the trial of
the offense that:
(A) the defendant has been previously convicted
of an offense under this section, other than an offense punishable
under Paragraph (B); or
(B) the defendant is a health care services
provider or a mental health services provider and the act is:
(i) committed during the course of
providing a treatment or service to the victim; and
(ii) beyond the scope of generally accepted
practices for the treatment or service; [ or ]
(2) a felony of the third degree if it is shown on the
trial of the offense that the defendant has been previously
convicted of an offense under this section that is punishable under
Subdivision (1)(B) ; or
(3) a felony of the second degree if the victim is a
disabled individual or an elderly individual .
(d) In this section : [ , ]
(1) "Disabled individual" and "elderly individual"
have the meanings assigned by Section 22.04.
(2) "Health [ "health ] care services provider" and
"mental health services provider" have the meanings assigned by
Section 22.011.
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, 2025.
Monitoring 
