Texas Sex Crime Law Changes That Took Effect September 1, 2025, and Which Collin County Cases They Apply To

On September 1, 2025, several bills from the 89th Texas Legislature changed how Texas defines and punishes a number of sex offenses. A year later, it is easy to assume that a case charged today is governed by today’s law.

Often it is not. For the offense and punishment changes covered here, the date of the alleged conduct decides which version of the law applies. The date of the arrest or the filing of the case does not.

If this is your situation right now: you or someone in your family is under investigation or has been charged with a sex offense, and the first question is which law governs. The answer starts with dates. Kent Starr handles sex offense cases in Collin County and takes the consultation himself. It is free and confidential. Call (214) 982-1408.

The date of the alleged offense decides which law applies

HB 1422, SB 1621, SB 20, and the child pornography article of HB 1778 each contain a nearly identical applicability clause. The changes apply only to an offense committed on or after September 1, 2025. An offense committed before that date is governed by the law in effect on the date it was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

Each clause also provides that an offense counts as committed before September 1, 2025 if any element of the offense occurred before that date.

So a case filed in 2026 can still be decided under the 2024 version of a statute, including its punishment range. And in a case built from acts spread over 30 or more days, like continuous sexual abuse, the alleged date of every act matters. Because Section 21.03 did not exist before September 1, 2025, the acts and the 30-day period in a Section 21.03 charge have to fall on or after that date.

One set of changes covered here uses a different date rule, explained in the evidence section below.

HB 1422: the 25-year minimum now reaches children younger than 10

Aggravated sexual assault under Penal Code Section 22.021 is a first-degree felony, punishable by 5 to 99 years or life. Subsection (f) raises the minimum to 25 years in two situations, and HB 1422 changed the first one.

For an offense committed on or after September 1, 2025, the 25-year minimum applies when the child was younger than 10. Before the change, the age in that subsection was younger than 6. The second situation did not change: a child younger than 14, when one of the circumstances listed in subsection (a)(2)(A) is also alleged, such as serious bodily injury or use of a deadly weapon.

Two more rules attach to subsection (f). A person serving a sentence for an offense punishable under subsection (f) is not eligible for parole under Government Code Section 508.145(a), and a judge may not grant deferred adjudication for that charge under Code of Criminal Procedure Article 42A.102(b)(3). HB 1422 did not create either rule, but raising the age widened the group of cases they reach.

So where the child named in the report was 6 to 9 years old and no other listed circumstance is alleged, the alleged date decides whether the 25-year minimum and those two rules apply.

HB 1422: a new offense, continuous sexual abuse under Section 21.03

Texas has had continuous sexual abuse of a young child under Section 21.02 since 2007. That statute covers two or more acts of sexual abuse during a period of 30 or more days against a child younger than 14 or a disabled individual. HB 1422 left it unchanged.

HB 1422 added a second offense with a broader reach. Under Section 21.03, a person commits continuous sexual abuse if, during a period of 30 or more days, the person commits two or more acts of sexual abuse against two or more people, and the person was 17 or older at the time of each act. The list of qualifying acts is the same list used in Section 21.02, and it includes sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault. Section 21.03 has no requirement that anyone involved be younger than 14.

Rules that come with a Section 21.03 charge:

• It is a first-degree felony, punishable by 5 to 99 years or life.
• Jurors must agree unanimously on two or more acts against two or more people during a period of 30 or more days, but not on which specific acts occurred or their exact dates.
• HB 1422 added Section 21.03 to the list of offenses with no parole eligibility and to the list of charges where deferred adjudication is barred. Article 42A.054(a) also bars judge-ordered community supervision after a conviction.
• It is a reportable offense for sex offender registration and is classified as a sexually violent offense, which generally means registration for life under Chapter 62 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
• When everyone named in the charge was younger than 17, Section 21.03(f) provides an affirmative defense if the accused was not more than five years older than the youngest, used no duress, force, or threat, and meets the subsection’s condition about lifetime registration or a prior reportable conviction.

Two other HB 1422 changes

Consecutive sentences. Penal Code Section 3.03 allows a judge to stack sentences for certain offenses arising out of the same criminal episode. Before HB 1422, that option applied to sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault only when the complaining witness was younger than 17. For offenses committed on or after September 1, 2025, it applies to those two offenses regardless of age.

Voyeurism. Section 21.17 went from a Class C to a Class A misdemeanor for offenses committed on or after September 1, 2025. It is a state jail felony with one prior voyeurism conviction, when the person observed was younger than 18, or when the offense happened on the premises of a postsecondary educational institution. It is a third-degree felony when the person observed was younger than 18 and the accused has a prior voyeurism conviction punishable under that younger-than-18 provision.

SB 1621 and HB 1778: the rewrite of Section 43.26

SB 1621 rewrote Section 43.26, possession or promotion of child pornography, and HB 1778 amended parts of the same section in the same session. For conduct on or after September 1, 2025:

Digital files. The definition of “visual material” now includes “a file in any digital format.”

Mental state. The old statute required that the person knew the material depicted a child. The new version asks whether the person knew or should have known the depiction is of a child younger than 18.

Possession of material depicting an actual child. The baseline is a third-degree felony, 2 to 10 years. It is a second-degree felony, 2 to 20 years, at 10 to 49 depictions, or with one prior conviction for an offense under Chapter 43 of the Penal Code or an offense listed in Code of Criminal Procedure Article 62.001(5), the registration statute’s list of reportable convictions. It is a first-degree felony, 5 to 99 years or life, at 50 or more depictions, with two or more of those prior convictions, or when the material depicts conduct that would be sexual assault of a child under Section 22.011(a)(2). If the material includes a depiction of a child younger than 10, a second-degree or third-degree case moves up one level, and a first-degree case based on the depiction count, prior convictions, or material depicting sexual assault of a child carries a 15-year minimum. Separate, higher ranges apply to certain child-care employees and to displaying the material in a school library.

Those tiers come from subsections SB 1621 added. HB 1778 reenacted the older grading subsection, Section 43.26(d), which SB 1621 repealed, and the official code prints it with a repeal note.

Conduct before September 1, 2025 is graded under the earlier version of the statute. From September 1, 2023, two 2023 bills printed different versions of its grading subsection, with different image-count thresholds.

Computer-generated material. SB 1621 created a separate possession offense for material depicting a “computer-generated child,” meaning a depiction created with artificial intelligence or other software that a reasonable person would find virtually indistinguishable from an actual child younger than 18. That offense starts as a state jail felony and rises with the depiction count and with prior convictions. It is a second-degree felony with a 10-year minimum for certain child-care employees and for displaying the material in a school library. Under Section 43.26(c-4), a depiction that appears to show a child younger than 10 increases the punishment to the next higher category, and the minimum term for those child-care and school-library cases is still 10 years. The statute provides an affirmative defense to that offense when the accused is not more than two years older than the depicted child.

Proof. In a case charged under the actual-child provisions, the State does not have to prove the identity of the child, and there is a rebuttable presumption that a depiction is of an actual child rather than a computer-generated one.

Promotion. SB 1621 and HB 1778 printed different versions of the promotion penalty subsection, and the official code shows both, so this article does not state a promotion penalty.

SB 20: a new offense for obscene material appearing to depict a child

SB 20 created Penal Code Section 43.235. It applies to a person who knowingly possesses, accesses with intent to view, or promotes obscene visual material with a depiction that appears to be of a child younger than 18 engaged in the conduct described in the obscenity definition at Section 43.21(a)(1)(B). That covers an image of an actual child, a cartoon or animation, or an image created with artificial intelligence or other software. It also covers using an image of an actual child to train an artificial intelligence model to produce material that would be child pornography under Section 43.26.

An offense under Section 43.235 is a state jail felony, punishable by 180 days to 2 years in a state jail. It is a third-degree felony with one prior conviction under Section 43.235 or certain related sections, including Section 43.26, and a second-degree felony with two or more.

HB 1778: evidence rules that follow a different date

HB 1778 also changed two trial evidence rules, which apply “to a criminal proceeding that commences on or after September 1, 2025.” In a case involving conduct from before that date, the older penalty statute and the newer evidence rules can both apply.

Outcry statements. Article 38.072 covers a statement by the child describing the alleged offense, made to the first person 18 or older, other than the defendant, whom the child told. Such a statement is not barred by the hearsay rule if further conditions are met, including advance notice and a reliability hearing outside the jury’s presence. The trial court must now admit more than one such statement when each meets the article’s basic requirements in Section 2(a) and describes different conduct by the defendant.

Other acts involving the same complaining witness. Section 1 of Article 38.37 provides that, in trials for listed offenses, evidence of other acts by the defendant against the complaining witness be admitted for its bearing on relevant matters. HB 1778 expanded the list to reach Chapter 21 and Chapter 22 offenses against anyone younger than 18, where the old line was younger than 17, and several offenses regardless of age, such as invasive visual recording. On request, the judge must now give the jury a limiting instruction when the evidence is admitted and again in writing.

Two things that are easy to mix up with these changes

HB 1730, a 2023 bill effective September 1, 2023, made indecent exposure under Section 21.08 a Class A misdemeanor with one prior conviction and a state jail felony with two or more. Effective September 1, 2025, the Legislature, in SB 1610 among other bills, reenacted Section 21.08(b) as one subsection that combines those levels with the third-degree felony level another 2023 bill, SB 1179, had set for a person civilly committed as a sexually violent predator.

Proposition 3 is separate from all of these bills. It is an amendment to the Texas Constitution on bail, approved by voters in November 2025, and aggravated sexual assault and indecency with a child are among the nine charges it lists. Its rules are explained in the Proposition 3 post.

Talking to a Collin County defense lawyer

Kent Starr has practiced criminal defense in Collin County since 1997. He handles sex offense cases, including sexual assault of a child and continuous sexual abuse charges and child pornography charges. He does every consultation himself.

If you have been contacted by investigators or have been charged, you have the right to speak with a lawyer before you answer questions yourself. The consultation is free and confidential. Call (214) 982-1408.

This article is general information about changes in Texas law. It is not legal advice, and every case turns on its own facts.

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References

• H.B. 1422, 89th Texas Legislature, Regular Session (enrolled text)
• S.B. 1621, 89th Texas Legislature, Regular Session (enrolled text)
• H.B. 1778, 89th Texas Legislature, Regular Session (enrolled text)
• S.B. 20, 89th Texas Legislature, Regular Session (enrolled text)
• S.B. 1610, 89th Texas Legislature, Regular Session (enrolled text)
• S.B. 129, 88th Texas Legislature, Regular Session (enrolled text)
• S.B. 1527, 88th Texas Legislature, Regular Session (enrolled text)
• S.B. 1179, 88th Texas Legislature, Regular Session (enrolled text)
• H.B. 1730, 88th Texas Legislature, Regular Session (enrolled text)
• S.J.R. 5, 89th Texas Legislature, Regular Session (enrolled text)
• Texas Constitution, Article I (Bill of Rights), Section 11d
• Texas Penal Code, Section 3.03 (Sentences for Offenses Arising Out of Same Criminal Episode)
• Texas Penal Code, Chapter 21 (Sections 21.02, 21.03, 21.08, 21.17)
• Texas Penal Code, Section 22.021 (Aggravated Sexual Assault)
• Texas Penal Code, Chapter 43 (Sections 43.21, 43.235, 43.26)
• Texas Penal Code, Chapter 12 (Punishments)
• Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Chapter 38 (Articles 38.072 and 38.37)
• Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Chapter 42A (Articles 42A.054 and 42A.102)
• Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Chapter 62 (Sex Offender Registration Program)
• Texas Government Code, Section 508.145 (Eligibility for Release on Parole)

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