Latest news with #HB3073
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Texas Passes First-in-Nation Law Defining Sexual Consent To Protect Assault Victims
(The Center Square) – Several bills strengthening protections for sex crime victims and penalties for perpetrators nearly unanimously passed the legislature and are headed to the governor for his signature. HB 3073, filed by state Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, amends the state penal code addressing sexual assault to explicitly define consensual sex. It was carried in the Senate by Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney. It passed the House earlier this month, passed the Senate this week with amended text, and passed the House nearly unanimously again on Friday with amended changes. It heads to the governor's desk. Once the governor signs it, Texas will be the first state in the U.S. to have an explicit legal definition of sexual consent. In addition to other provisions, stipulates that sexual assault occurs without the consent of the other person when 'the other person has not consented and the actor knows the other person is unconscious or physically unable to resist;' when the other person 'has not consented and the actor knows the other person is unaware that the sexual assault is occurring;' or 'is intoxicated or impaired by any substance to the extent that the other person is incapable of consenting.' The bill is named after activist Summer Willis, founder of Strength Through Strides. Willis ran 29 marathons in one year to meet and uplift sexual assault survivors. In February, she crawled the Austin half-marathon and state lawmakers joined her at the finish line. 'I crawled the Austin half marathon in February for a world record attempt to begin raising awareness about the bill, that's when it was named after me by the politicians who joined to cross the finish line with me,' she said. 'Our bill got voted out on the final day, in the final hour. I'm excited about our story of hope and fight for survivors.' Another bill heading to Abbott's desk is SB 835, filed by Paxton, the companion bill to HB 748, filed by state Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano. Known as Trey's Law, it amends state law to prevent perpetrators or institutions involved with child sexual abuse from creating and engaging the victim in nondisclosure agreements (NDA) as a part of a lawsuit settlement. It's named after Trey Carlock, who was sexually abused by a former camp counselor in Branson, Missouri, and later took his own life. Carlock 'experienced severe mental health problems after enduring years of sexual abuse and was coerced into signing an NDA, are further prohibited from speaking out about their abuse or discovery in a settled case,' the bill analysis states. The federal Speak Out Act of 2022 prohibits the use of NDAs for adult cases of sexual harassment and assault in the workplace. Trey's Law ensures that child sex abuse survivors are no longer silenced by NDAs, Leach argues. Passage in Texas marks 'a major victory for victims and survivors of sexual abuse' and delivers 'a blow to their perpetrators hiding in the shadows,' Leach said. 'Texas it's taking a long overdue stand against the cover up of sexual abuse and the silencing of victims. For too long, powerful institutions have escaped public accountability' while survivors and their families were left to suffer in silence, he added. 'This law ends that practice and changes the public policy of the state forever. In doing so, we have sent a clear message: if you abuse a fellow Texan or if you harbor or assist an abuser at the expense of the victim, you will be held to account.' SB 1621, filed by state Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, is also heading to Abbott's desk. It was filed to bring Texas' child pornography statutes up to date to address deepfake technology and artificial intelligence being used to create sexually explicit visual material of a person or a likeness of a person, including children, Huffman's bill analysis states. State Rep. Caroline Fairly, R-Amarillo, carried the bill in the House. It passed unanimously in the House and Senate. It amends state penal code by creating a new offense for computer generated child pornography, including material containing a visual depiction of a computer-generated child engaging in sexual conduct. Offenses range between first- and third-degree felonies. Penalties for possessing child pornography carry a sentence of between 25 years and life in prison; penalties for promoting child pornography carry a minimum sentence of 15 years; penalties for promoting computer-generated child porn carry a minimum sentence of 10 years, all depending on a range of factors, according to the bill language.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Bill named for UT Austin student passes, closes sexual assault loophole
Content Warning: This article discusses sexual assault. Please return to the homepage if you are not comfortable with the topic. If you are in distress and need to speak with someone, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673. AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas will close a loophole in its sexual assault laws after the Texas Senate passed House Bill 3073 on Wednesday, which makes it a crime in Texas to have sex with a person who is voluntarily intoxicated. Sexual assault survivors testify to Senate committee on bill to close loophole Previously, in order to convict someone for a sexual assault, prosecutors had to prove that a defendant had '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.' For survivors like bill namesake Summer Willis, this wording prevented her from pressing charges. The new Texas' Penal code language will instead read: 'A sexual assault … is without the consent of the other person if the actor knows that the other person is intoxicated or impaired by any substance to the extent that the other person is incapable of consenting' The sexual assault statutes would now cite an already enrolled definition of consent — 'assent in fact, whether express or apparent.' The bill came out of Gov. Greg Abbott's Sexual Assault Survivors Task Force and supporters said that it had his support. Unless Abbott issues a surprise veto, the bill goes into law on Sept. 1. HB 3073 narrowly avoided multiple deadlines near the end of the session. Willis and other organizers told KXAN that they've been pushing for the change for over 10 years. Previous: Survivors urge Texas lawmakers to close sexual assault loophole before bill dies The delayed start of the new law means that it will not cover assaults of intoxicated people occurring prior to September. HB 3073 was authored by Reps. Donna Howard, D-Austin; Ellen Troxclair, R-Lakeway; Ann Johnson, D-Houston; David Cook, R-Mansfield; and Nichole Collier, D-Fort Worth. Its Senate sponsor was Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Survivors urge Texas lawmakers to close sexual assault loophole before bill dies
Content Warning: This article discusses sexual assault. Please return to the homepage if you are not comfortable with the topic. If you are in distress and need to speak with someone, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673. AUSTIN (KXAN) — Sexual assault survivors and advocates said they would rally at the Texas Capitol Monday around 12:30 p.m. to voice support for a bill that could close a loop in the state's sex crime laws, according to a press release. House Bill 3073, named the 'Summer Willis Act,' passed in the House on May 1 with only four representatives voting against it, according to legislative records. It would add language to the Texas' sexual assault statute to include offenses while a victim is voluntarily intoxicated. 'Because of gaps in Texas law, Summer Willis was denied justice,' the release states. 'This bill strengthens our laws and moves Texas closer to ensuring that every sexual assault case is met with the seriousness and justice it deserves.' The rally will feature other sexual assault survivors and advocates, including Dr. Lavinia Masters and the family of Jeffery Epstein survivor Virginia Giuffre, according to the release. The bill is now before the Senate's Criminal Justice Committee, which is led by Sen. Pete Flores, R-Pleasanton, and Sen. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound. That committee has held three meetings since the bill was referred to it. According to the release, Willis and other advocates are worried that the bill will die in committee. As of Monday morning, the bill is not listed on the committee's Tuesday agenda. Willis, a sexual assault survivor, is scheduled to speak at the rally to 'urge Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to overrule Flores and schedule the vote.' 'Texas, I can't begin to describe what survivors go through after we survive,' said Willis in the release. 'And I don't have words strong enough to describe what it feels like to know our state offers loopholes to rapists and locked doors to us.' Willis was honored in the Senate Monday morning While not an official deadline, time is running out on the 89th legislative session; the last day for the Senate to consider HB 3073 is May 28. The committee does not have any other meetings scheduled ahead of that deadline, according to legislative records. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
