SB835

SB835, called Trey’s Law, makes contract terms unenforceable to the extent they bar disclosure of covered sexual abuse or related facts. It covers nondisclosure/confidentiality agreements and such clauses in employment, settlement or other agreements. The protection extends to disclosure by a person, including a party, to any other person—not just to police. The governor signed it June 20, 2025; it took effect September 1, 2025. Final law; History.

The law uses specified legal definitions rather than covering every dispute described informally as abuse. It includes indecency with a child, sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, sexual performance by a child, specified sex-trafficking conduct and compelling prostitution. It also incorporates listed Family Code child-abuse acts and omissions, including harmful sexual conduct, failure to make reasonable efforts to prevent it, and specified sexual exploitation and child trafficking. That child-trafficking reference includes forced-labor trafficking as well as sexual trafficking. Coverage is not limited to child victims or to the direct perpetrator’s conduct. Section 129C.001; Family Code 261.001(1)(E)–(H), (K)–(L); Referenced trafficking conduct.

The restriction is limited to the prohibited disclosure clause; it does not automatically void the entire settlement or require a survivor to speak publicly. Parties may still agree to keep other settlement terms confidential, expressly including the amount and payment terms. SB835 does not itself promise immunity from unrelated laws or decide whether a particular allegation is true. Section 129C.002.

The act reaches agreements signed before, on or after September 1, 2025. For an earlier agreement, someone seeking to enforce or attempt to enforce a covered agreement or clause must first obtain a declaratory judgment declaring it enforceable that is final and no longer appealable. This is a court ruling about legal rights; the prerequisite is placed on the person trying to enforce the clause, not a blanket requirement that every survivor first sue. Section 3; Declaratory judgments.