Monitoring the Session

SB 242

Flores Bill Ends Educational And Governmental Defenses On Harmful Material

Died in committee

Verdict: No flags

No flagsInitial review
Sen. Pete FloresRSenate 24

Initial review · graded Oct 20, 2026 · Headline, summary and grade are analysis of the bill text, not a finding about any person · How we grade

Caption

relating to affirmative defenses to prosecution for certain criminal offenses involving material or conduct that may be obscene or is otherwise harmful to children.

Caption from analyzed text · version I.

Summary

Schools, teachers and librarians lose that argument. Scientific, medical and law enforcement defenses stay.

The bill removes educational and governmental reasons from the list of affirmative defenses to the Penal Code offense of selling, distributing or showing harmful material to minors, and removes educational purpose as a defense to the offense involving sexual performance by a child. It touches anyone who could have claimed an educational or governmental justification, such as schools, teachers, librarians or public bodies, while scientific, medical, judicial, law enforcement and legislative defenses stay. Starting September 1, 2025, a person charged under these sections can no longer argue that the conduct was justified because it was educational or governmental.

Labels

Labels: BACK FROM THE DEAD. Same text as a bill filed before that died: 88R SB 1007 (Died in committee). Filed in 2 sessions, counting this one. Checked against 88R only.TRY NO. 2. Filed in 2 sessions: 88R and 89R. Checked against 88R only.

Receipt

The receipt

89R-SB242 · 2024-11-12

SOLD BY

Sen. Pete FloresRSenate 24

+ 2 coauthors

ITEM

relating to affirmative defenses to prosecution for certain criminal offenses involving material or conduct that may be obscene or is otherwise harmful to children.

WHAT IT DOES

Schools, teachers and librarians lose that argument. Scientific, medical and law enforcement defenses stay.

The bill removes educational and governmental reasons from the list of affirmative defenses to the Penal Code offense of selling, distributing or showing harmful material to minors, and removes educational purpose as a defense to the offense involving sexual performance by a child. It touches anyone who could have claimed an educational or governmental justification, such as schools, teachers, librarians or public bodies, while scientific, medical, judicial, law enforcement and legislative defenses stay. Starting September 1, 2025, a person charged under these sections can no longer argue that the conduct was justified because it was educational or governmental.

CHARGES

[ ] NONE FOUND

TOTAL

No fiscal note in the loaded record.

HISTORY

  1. Received by the Secretary of the Senate
  2. Filed
  3. Read first time
  4. Referred to Criminal Justice
  5. Co-author authorized
  6. Co-author authorized
FILED UNDER

SPEECH AND LAWFARE

THE TEXT

…“section that the sale, distribution, or exhibition was by a person”…

Bill text, introduced version (I)

The bill narrows who can defend the sale, distribution or display of material harmful to minors by striking the educational and governmental defenses, which changes legal exposure for schools and public institutions that share such material.

No flags

THANK YOU FOR CHECKING THE RECEIPT

CAMPAIGN PAID FOR BY

CAMPAIGN PAID FOR BY

Pete Flores

Donors

Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC$55KMorris Jaffe$25,000Justin Jaffe$25,000

Not tied to this bill.

Sources

The author's campaign account only. Own money and internal transfers are separate on the member page.

Derived itemized flow · Jul 12, 2024 to Oct 24, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC$55,000.00

Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC

$55,000.00

Cash
$55,000.00
Paid by others
$0.00
Total
$55,000.00

Also funds 124 other sitting lawmakers.

Derived recipient stock · Jul 10, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

TEC account match.

Team
Sources

Derived itemized flow · Dec 13, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Report IDs: 100985131, 101008112, 101072110.

Morris Jaffe$25,000.00
Justin Jaffe$25,000.00
Money

Missing data does not establish zero giving. Display amounts are rounded.

×

Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC

$55,000.00

Cash
$55,000.00
Paid by others
$0.00
Total
$55,000.00

Also funds 124 other sitting lawmakers.

Derived recipient stock · Jul 10, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

TEC account match.

Team
Sources

Derived itemized flow · Dec 13, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Report IDs: 100985131, 101008112, 101072110.

Votes

No floor vote loaded for this bill.

Fiscal

No fiscal note in the loaded record.

How this was graded

Analysis of text version I by claude-opus-5-5, Oct 20, 2026, against the published rubric.

FILED BEFORE

Filed 2 times: 88R and 89R. Checked against 88R only.

88R SB 1007

by Sen. Flores, same lead author · Died in committee · same text

Introduced text

Last action, Mar 3, 2023: Referred to Criminal Justice

Relating to defenses to prosecution for certain criminal offenses involving material or conduct that may be obscene or is otherwise harmful to children.

Caption, 88R bill history

Sources

Texas Senate · Filed Nov 12, 2024

02/03/2025 S Referred to Criminal Justice

Texas Legislature Online · Introduced

Data snapshot Oct 26, 2026 at 4:19 AM CDT. Grades, charges, quotes and corrections follow the published record.

Coauthors
Brent HagenbuchRSenate 30 Mayes MiddletonRSenate 11

Senate committee · Criminal Justice · Final status: Died in committee

Companion

HB 267 by Patterson (similar)

HB 1434 by Hickland (similar)

Subjects

Courts--Judges

Crimes--Against Persons--General

Crimes--Against Persons--Sexual

Criminal Procedure--General

Law Enforcement

Libraries & Librarians

Minors--Crimes Against

LIBRARY COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT & MATERIALS (SE35P)

Text

The text as introduced · 261 words

89R1532 JCG-F

By: Flores
S.B. No. 242

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to affirmative defenses to prosecution for certain

criminal offenses involving material or conduct that may be obscene

or is otherwise harmful to children.

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

SECTION 1. Section 43.24(c), Penal Code, is amended to read

as follows:

(c) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this

section that the sale, distribution, or exhibition was by a person

having scientific[ , educational, governmental, ] or other similar

justification.

SECTION 2. Section 43.25(f), Penal Code, is amended to read

as follows:

(f) It is an affirmative defense to a prosecution under this

section that:

(1) the defendant was the spouse of the child at the

time of the offense;

(2) the conduct was for a bona fide [ educational, ]

medical, psychological, psychiatric, judicial, law enforcement, or

legislative purpose; or

(3) the defendant is not more than two years older than

the child.

SECTION 3. 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 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.