SB1621

Conduct and proof: the possession/access offenses still require intentional or knowing possession, or intentional or knowing access with intent to view, of material depicting the specified sexual conduct. For actual-child depictions, the age element now requires that the person knows or should have known the child was under 18 when the image was made. The computer-generated offense requires that the person knows or should have known the depiction appears under 18, or believes it depicts an actual child under 18. Parallel rules cover promotion or possession with intent to promote; “promote” includes distributing, displaying and other listed acts, not only selling. In actual-child cases the state need not prove the child’s identity, and there is a rebuttable—not conclusive—presumption that the depiction is of an actual rather than a computer-generated child. Final law; Definition of promotion; Earlier offense and defenses.

Possession/access penalties for actual-child depictions: the base is a third-degree felony. One qualifying prior conviction or possession of 10–49 depictions raises it to second degree; two or more qualifying priors, 50 or more depictions, or material depicting the specified child-sexual-assault conduct raises it to first degree. Qualifying priors include Chapter 43 offenses and offenses described in the sex-offender-registration definition, not merely a prior conviction under this same subsection. Specified child-care, treatment-facility or state-funded youth-facility employees, people receiving state funds to care for a depicted child, and those displaying the material in a public or private school library face first-degree punishment of 25–99 years or life. An actual child under 10 raises a second- or third-degree offense one category; for first-degree cases based on priors, image count or specified assault content under subsection (c-1)(2), it raises the minimum to 15 years. These rules concern material meeting the offense’s elements, not every book a school library possesses. Final law; Referenced prior-offense definition; Referenced child-sexual-assault provision.

Possession/access penalties for computer-generated depictions: the base is a state-jail felony; one qualifying prior or 10–49 depictions raises it to third degree, and two or more qualifying priors or 50 or more depictions raises it to second degree. The specified facility employees and school-library display cases carry second-degree punishment with a 10-year minimum. Unlike the actual-child provision, this special category does not separately list recipients of state child-care funds. If the computer-generated child appears under 10, punishment moves up one category, retaining a 10-year minimum for the special employee/library category. Final law.

Promotion penalties: actual-child material starts at second degree. A qualifying prior, 10–49 depictions, or a depiction appearing under 10 raises it to first degree; 50 or more depictions or the specified child-sexual-assault conduct brings a 15-year minimum. Computer-generated material starts at third degree; a qualifying prior, 10 or more depictions, or a depiction appearing under 10 raises it to second degree, with a 10-year minimum for 50 or more depictions. These are separate promotion rules, not the possession thresholds applied unchanged. The act repeals and replaces the earlier overlapping penalty subsections, including two 2023 versions; it is misleading to present the entire scheme as one new image-count threshold. Final law; Earlier overlapping provisions.

Defenses: the final law replaces the broad bona fide educational, medical, psychological, psychiatric, judicial, law-enforcement or legislative-purpose defense with an affirmative defense for a judicial or law enforcement officer performing official duties. The not-more-than-two-years-older affirmative defense survives here only for the computer-generated possession and promotion offenses, not actual-child cases. A separate, narrow defense remains for law enforcement officers or school administrators who handle material in good faith solely because of an allegation under the minor-to-minor transmission law, appropriately restrict access and take reasonable destruction steps. The act does not make any claimed educational purpose a general exemption. Final law; Earlier incorporated defenses; Earlier purpose and age defenses.

Related laws: the act expressly adds files in any digital format to the visual-material definitions for these offenses and unlawful disclosure or promotion of intimate visual material. It extends the minor-to-minor electronic-transmission and lewd-child-image provisions to virtually indistinguishable computer-generated depictions while leaving their other elements in place. It does not repeal the separate minor-to-minor law’s own defenses. Court-publication restrictions and controlled defense access are updated by cross-reference; the final act literally cites 43.26(a-2)(2), which sets the computer-generated offense’s age/belief condition, alongside (a-1)(1). This briefing does not silently rewrite that reference or claim it abolishes defense inspection. Final law; Intimate-image offense; Minor-to-minor law; Lewd-image elements; Court handling; Controlled discovery.

The introduced and Senate committee texts match. Huffman’s adopted March 12 amendment removes the videotape-or-film limitation from the possession enhancement for depictions of specified child-sexual-assault conduct and changes “confinement” to “imprisonment.” The Senate-passed and House committee texts match. The adopted May 22 Fairly, Virdell and Little amendment makes the parallel format change for promotion and narrows the purpose defense to judicial or law enforcement officers performing duties. The Senate concurred May 28; those changes are in the final law. Introduced; Senate committee; Senate amendment; Senate-passed; House committee; House amendment; Final law; Version index; Amendment index.

Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.

The law gives prosecutors broader tools against qualifying synthetic and altered sexual images and potentially exposes defendants to longer imprisonment and fewer defenses. Whether it reduces exploitation is not measured in the act. Proof of appearance, the relevant mental state, qualifying priors and the rebuttable presumption may matter in individual cases; this briefing reports the enacted text, not a court ruling on its application or constitutionality. Ordinary punishment ranges, before special minima or other applicable enhancements, are 180 days–2 years for state-jail felonies, 2–10 years for third degree, 2–20 for second degree, and 5–99 years or life for first degree; fines up to $10,000 may also apply. Final law; State-jail range; Third-degree range; Second-degree range; First-degree range.

The March 3, April 23 and May 23 fiscal notes cannot determine state or local costs because the data do not identify cases meeting the revised criteria. They warn of additional arrest, detention, supervision and imprisonment demands; they do not say the law is cost-free. The criminal-justice statements report fiscal 2024 totals of 2,818 arrests, 260 referrals, 267 community-supervision placements and 266 state-correctional admissions across the four affected offense groups. Those are historical totals, not projected new cases or counts of AI-only offenses. No dollar estimate, multiyear cost table or appropriation is supplied. Introduced fiscal note; Senate-passed fiscal note; House-passed fiscal note; Final-entry fiscal note; Introduced impact statement; Senate-passed impact statement; Final impact statement.