Bill adds provider deception to the sexual assault consent law

The text as introduced · 787 words

89R4322 MZM-F

By: Eckhardt
S.B. No. 333

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the prosecution of the offense of sexual assault.

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

SECTION 1. Section 22.011(b), Penal Code, is amended to

read as follows:

(b) A sexual assault under Subsection (a)(1) is without the

consent of the other person if:

(1) the actor compels the other person to submit or

participate by the use of physical force, violence, or coercion;

(2) the actor compels the other person to submit or

participate by threatening to use force or violence against the

other person or to cause harm to the other person, and the other

person believes that the actor has the present ability to execute

the threat;

(3) the other person has not consented and the actor

knows the other person is unconscious or physically unable to

resist;

(4) the actor knows that as a result of mental disease

or defect the other person is at the time of the sexual assault

incapable either of appraising the nature of the act or of resisting

it;

(5) the other person has not consented and the actor

knows the other person is unaware that the sexual assault is

occurring;

(6) the actor has intentionally impaired the other

person's power to appraise or control the other person's conduct by

administering any substance without the other person's knowledge;

(7) the actor compels the other person to submit or

participate by threatening to use force or violence against any

person, and the other person believes that the actor has the ability

to execute the threat;

(8) the actor is a public servant who coerces the other

person to submit or participate;

(9) the actor is a mental health services provider or a

health care services provider who causes the other person, who is a

patient or former patient of the actor, to submit or participate by

exploiting the other person's emotional dependency on the actor;

(10) the actor is a clergyman who causes the other

person to submit or participate by exploiting the other person's

emotional dependency on the clergyman in the clergyman's

professional character as spiritual adviser;

(11) the actor is an employee of a facility where the

other person is a resident, unless the employee and resident are

formally or informally married to each other under Chapter 2,

Family Code;

(12) the actor is a health care services provider who,

in the course of performing an assisted reproduction procedure on

the other person, uses human reproductive material from a donor

knowing that the other person has not expressly consented to the use

of material from that donor;

(13) the actor is a coach or tutor who causes the other

person to submit or participate by using the actor's power or

influence to exploit the other person's dependency on the actor;

[ or ]

(14) the actor is a caregiver hired to assist the other

person with activities of daily life and causes the other person to

submit or participate by exploiting the other person's dependency

on the actor ; or

(15) the actor is a mental health services provider, a

health care services provider, or a person purporting to be a health

care services provider who, during the course of providing actual

or purported mental health services or health care services to the

other person, causes the other person to submit or participate by

creating or confirming a false impression of law or fact .

SECTION 2. Section 22.011(c)(3), Penal Code, is amended to

read as follows:

(3) "Health care services provider" means a person who

is licensed, certified, or otherwise authorized by the laws of this

state to provide health care services in the ordinary course of

business or practice of a profession, including :

(A) a physician licensed under Subtitle B, Title

3, Occupations Code;

(B) a chiropractor licensed under Chapter 201,

Occupations Code;

(C) a physical therapist licensed under Chapter

453, Occupations Code;

(D) a physician assistant licensed under Chapter

204, Occupations Code; or

(E) a registered nurse, a vocational nurse, or an

advanced practice nurse licensed under Chapter 301, Occupations

Code.

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 when 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.