Child Welfare

House Bill 1106 (Shaheen, et al. | SP: Hall) protects parents from abuse and neglect allegations related to extreme gender ideology. Under the bill, a parent’s refusal to affirm their child's preferred name, pronouns, or sexual orientation would not be grounds for challenging parental rights.

Senate Bill 1621 (Huffman, et al. | SP: Fairly) creates safeguards for children against sexual exploitation that occurs when deepfake technology and artificial intelligence are used to create explicit images of a person who is either under 18 or is believed by the offender to be under 18. SB 1621 revises Texas’ child pornography statute to establish a new offense for intentionally or knowingly possessing, or intentionally or knowingly accessing with the intent to view, computer-generated child pornography. Penalties would be enhanced from a third-degree felony to a first-degree felony punishable for life or for any term of not more than 99 years or less than 25 years depending upon the volume of material and/or the employment or state funded child-care facility status of the offender.

Senate Bill 1388 (Kolkhorst | SP: Frank, et al.) continues the “Thriving Texas Families” initiative from SB 24 (Kolkhorst, SP: Frank | 88R) by ensuring that the program maintains its pro-life mission and does not offer financial support to entities or organizations who promote, facilitate, refer to, or advocate for abortion services. SB 1388 also clarifies that private entities focused primarily on medical or mental health care, governmental entities, quasi-governmental entities, hospital or hospital districts, and any entity who shares- or affiliates or collaborates with any organization who shares- employees or members of its governing body with an abortion services provider are ineligible for Thriving Texas Families funds.

House Bill 116 (Dutton, et al. | SP: Kolkhorst) prioritizes child welfare and protects taxpayers from having to financially support children in substitute care by ensuring financially capable parents continue to support their children. The bill also ensures that minor non-compliance with court orders does not result in parental rights being terminated.

House Bill 1458 (Metcalf, et al. | Creighton) expands the pool of individuals eligible to act as armed security officers on public school campuses by authorizing school district police chiefs to appoint reserve officers, including reserve deputy sheriffs, reserve police officers, and honorably retired peace officers, under specific conditions.

House Bill 2000 (Ashby, et al. | SP: Nichols) "Audrii's Law" reinforces protections for children by mandating that an individual convicted of child grooming register as a sex offender. HB 2000 is named in memory of 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham, who was sexually assaulted and murdered in February 2024.

House Bill 2789 (Frank, et al. | SP: Sparks) supports foster children safety by implementing recommendations arising from an assessment of foster care rules and regulations to address system inefficiencies regarding child welfare provider licensure, community-based care contractor compliance, and family homes insurance.

House Bill 3629 (Noble, et al. | SP: Zaffirini) prohibits registered sex offenders from serving as school district trustees. It requires individuals submitting a ballot application to confirm that they are not required to register as a sex offender.

House Bill 4623 (Little, et al. | SP: Paxton) holds public schools that are grossly negligent or reckless, or engage in intentional misconduct in hiring, supervising, or employing a professional school employee, liable for an act or omission of the employee’s sexual misconduct or failure to report suspected child abuse or neglect of an enrolled student.

Senate Bill 2018 (Paxton, et al. | SP: Harris, et al.) permits eligible organizations to apply for a "strong families credit" that could be applied against a franchise tax liability. Among other things, eligible organizations must be nonprofit organizations that have provided at least three years of services to Texas families, including case management services for at-risk families and providing services to assist fathers in improving parenting skills.