2025 · Regular session · Senate bill
SB1019
SB1019 expands which alleged victims qualify for a special evidence rule in certain juvenile delinquency hearings.
Official caption: Relating to the admissibility of certain hearsay statements in the adjudication of certain sexual or assaultive offenses committed against a child or a person with a disability.
Official report lists Senate author(s): Huffman. This does not identify sponsors or amendment drafters.
Bill explanation published · Version and amendment review scope is stated below · Individual amendment records may not be separately annotated.
Bill highlights
Selected points from the published explanation. Follow each point to its source-linked context; conditions and limits may matter.
- SB1019 expands which alleged victims qualify for a special evidence rule in certain juvenile delinquency hearings.
- The rule concerns a victim’s statement describing the alleged violation to the first adult, age 18 or older, told about it.
- The existing safeguards remain: At least 14 days before the hearing, the offering party must give the other parties notice, the witness’s name and a written summary.
- Signed June 20, 2025, the act took effect September 1, 2025.
What does it do?
SB1019 expands which alleged victims qualify for a special evidence rule in certain juvenile delinquency hearings. It raises the victim-age limit from 12 to 18 or younger and adopts a different statutory definition of a person with a disability. This concerns evidence about an alleged victim, not the age of the juvenile accused of an offense, and does not create a new crime. Final law, section 1.
The rule concerns a victim’s statement describing the alleged violation to the first adult, age 18 or older, told about it. It can allow that adult to recount the statement despite the hearsay rule—the usual restriction on using an out-of-court statement to prove what it says. It covers sexual and assaultive offenses in Penal Code chapters 21 and 22, prohibited sexual conduct, sexual performance by a child, and the specific trafficking and compelling-prostitution provisions listed in the law. Final law; FA 54.031 (pre-act text).
The existing safeguards remain. At least 14 days before the hearing, the offering party must give the other parties notice, the witness’s name and a written summary. The juvenile court must find the statement reliable based on its time, content and circumstances in a hearing outside the jury’s presence. The victim must testify or be available to testify in court or another manner allowed by law. The change does not automatically admit every statement or dispense with all testimony requirements. FA 54.031 (pre-act text), subsections (b)–(c); Final law.
Signed June 20, 2025, the act took effect September 1, 2025. It applies to juvenile court cases that commence on or after that date; earlier cases remain under the former law. Official history; Final law, sections 2–3.
What changed along the way?
The former disability definition required age 13 or older and substantial inability to protect oneself from harm or provide one’s own food, shelter or medical care. The new definition uses Penal Code 22.04’s “disabled individual”: either one of six conditions under their statutory definitions—autism spectrum disorder, developmental disability, intellectual disability, severe emotional disturbance, traumatic brain injury or mental illness—or the separate substantial-inability route based on age or physical or mental disease, defect or injury. It has no general age-13 minimum. These are statutory categories, not a blanket rule that every diagnosis or difficulty qualifies. Final law; PE 22.04 (pre-act text), subsection (c)(3).
Each condition has its own limits: for example, developmental disability requires severe, chronic impairment and substantial limitations in three or more major life activities; mental illness has specified impairment tests and exclusions. The incorporated definitions are available here: IN 1355.001 (pre-act text); HR 112.042 (pre-act text); HS 591.003 (pre-act text); FA 261.001 (pre-act text); HS 92.001 (pre-act text); HS 571.003 (pre-act text).
The introduced, Senate committee, engrossed, House committee and enrolled versions have the same operative provisions. The official amendment index lists no amendments; the final law retains both the age change and the incorporated disability definition. All text versions; Amendment index; Final law.
For the full amendment record, open the official amendment index.
Official bill versions
Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.
Who could benefit—and who could bear the costs?
For qualifying alleged victims aged 13–18, and people covered by the revised disability definition, this expands the circumstances in which an initial disclosure may be presented through an adult witness. Courts and parties must still meet the unchanged notice, reliability and testimony conditions. It does not promise admission in an individual case, a conviction, or relief from appearing as a witness. Final law; FA 54.031 (pre-act text).
The March 17, 2025 fiscal note anticipates no significant state or local fiscal implication. It assumes costs can be absorbed with existing resources and no significant effect on state correctional populations or resource demand. That is not a finding of zero casework or a dollar estimate of savings; the note supplies neither a dollar total nor a conviction-rate forecast. Fiscal note.
Official sources
- Bill history and latest recorded action
- Bill versions, analyses and fiscal notes
- Action history and votes
- Amendment index
Catalog report retrieved 2026-10-25. Check the official record for corrections or later changes.
