Lowe Bill Makes Social Gender Affirmation Possible Child Abuse

The text as introduced · 1,613 words

89R15164 AMF-F

By: Lowe
H.B. No. 3478

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the definitions of child abuse and neglect and the

temporary emergency jurisdiction of a court in this state over a

child at risk of receiving certain prohibited gender transitioning

or gender reassignment procedures or treatments.

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

SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as the Save James Act.

SECTION 2. Section 152.204(a), Family Code, is amended to

read as follows:

(a) A court of this state has temporary emergency

jurisdiction if :

(1) the child is present in this state and the child

has been abandoned or it is necessary in an emergency to protect the

child because the child, or a sibling or parent of the child, is

subjected to or threatened with mistreatment or abuse ; or

(2) the child has a parent or person acting as a parent

who is present in this state and it is necessary to protect the

child from receiving a treatment or procedure prohibited under

Section 161.702, Health and Safety Code .

SECTION 3. Section 261.001, Family Code, is amended by

amending Subdivisions (1) and (4) and adding Subdivision (1-a) to

read as follows:

(1) "Abuse" includes the following acts or omissions

by a person:

(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;

(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;

(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;

(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;

(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;

(F) failure to make a reasonable effort to

prevent sexual conduct harmful to a child;

(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;

(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;

(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;

(J) causing, expressly permitting, or

encouraging a child to use a controlled substance as defined by

Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code;

(K) causing, permitting, encouraging, engaging

in, or allowing a sexual performance by a child as defined by

Section 43.25, Penal Code;

(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 ]

(M) forcing or coercing a child to enter into a

marriage ; or

(N) causing, permitting, encouraging, engaging

in, or allowing:

(i) a medical intervention intended to

affirm a child's perception of the child's gender if that perception

is inconsistent with the child's biological sex, including a

treatment or procedure prohibited under Section 161.702, Health and

Safety Code; or

(ii) a psychological or social intervention

intended to affirm a child's perception of the child's gender if

that perception is inconsistent with the child's biological sex and

is:

(a) severe or pervasive enough to

cause harm to the child's perception of the child's gender or

identity; or

(b) an intervention by an adult

authority figure in the child's life .

(1-a) "Abuse" does not include the refusal by a person

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

(A) a child's perception of the child's gender if

that perception is inconsistent with the child's biological sex,

including a refusal to use a child's preferred name or pronouns if

the name or pronouns are inconsistent with the child's biological

sex, regardless of whether the child's name has been legally

changed; or

(B) a child's expressed sexual orientation.

(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)(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 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 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 ; or

(iv) the refusal by a person responsible

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

(a) a child's perception of the

child's gender if that perception is inconsistent with the child's

biological sex, including a refusal to use a child's preferred name

or pronouns if the name or pronouns are inconsistent with the

child's biological sex, regardless of whether the child's name has

been legally changed; or

(b) a child's expressed sexual

orientation .

SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.