HB2000

HB2000, called Audrii’s Law, adds a conviction or adjudication for the existing Texas offense of child grooming to the sex-offender registration law. The reportable category includes juvenile delinquency adjudications and deferred adjudications; a pending appeal does not by itself remove a case from the statutory definition. The bill adds a registration consequence rather than creating the underlying grooming offense or rewriting its elements. Final law, Sections 1–2.

Child grooming has a specific statutory meaning involving knowingly persuading, inducing, enticing or coercing—or attempting those acts—a child under 18 into specified conduct, with intent that one of the designated offenses be committed. It is not simply a label for any interaction between an adult and a child. The existing offense contains its own elements, penalties and a limited affirmative defense for certain conduct between minors. HB2000 does not change those provisions. Penal Code 15.032.

The bill also adds the grooming category to the rule covering substantially similar offenses under another state’s, federal, foreign-country or military law. That cross-jurisdiction provision excludes violations resulting in deferred adjudication; this differs from the Texas-offense provision’s general inclusion of deferred adjudication. The existing attempt/conspiracy/solicitation cross-reference is not expanded to add the new grooming paragraph. Final law, Article 62.001(5)(G), (H) and (M).

Registration brings existing Chapter 62 duties, including providing required information to the appropriate local law-enforcement authority and keeping it accurate. Failing to comply can itself be a criminal offense. HB2000 does not make every grooming case a lifetime-registration case. The existing duration rules generally put a standalone grooming case in the ten-year category, measured from the relevant release, discharge or disposition-completion date—not automatically from conviction. Other reportable offenses, civil commitment, juvenile-court exemptions and applicable relief provisions can change an individual’s obligations. Code of Criminal Procedure 62.001, 62.051, 62.101, 62.102 and 62.351–62.352.

The change applies only to offenses committed on or after September 1, 2025. If any element occurred earlier, the prior law governs. A later conviction date alone does not bring an earlier offense under this new requirement. Final law, Sections 3–4.