All Roll Calls
Yes: 166 • No: 1
TexasHB 177889th Legislature Regular SessionHouse
Relating to human trafficking, prostitution, and child pornography and to the prosecution of sexual or assaultive offenses or the prosecution of a failure to stop or report those offenses; amending and harmonizing certain statute of limitations provisions; creating a criminal offense; increasing a criminal penalty.
Sponsored By: Joan Huffman (Republican), Jolanda "Jo" Jones, Lauren Ashley Simmons, Senfronia Thompson
Signed by Governor
Crimes--Against Persons--GeneralCrimes--Against Persons--SexualCriminal Procedure--GeneralCriminal Procedure--Sentencing & PunishmentDisabilities, Persons withElectronic Information SystemsLaw EnforcementMinors--Crimes AgainstCHILD ABUSECONTINUING EDUCATIONCRIME VICTIMSHUMAN TRAFFICKINGPORNOGRAPHYPROSTITUTIONSEXUAL ASSAULTALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE COMMISSION, TEXASATTORNEY GENERALCOURT ADMINISTRATION, OFFICE OFCRIMINAL JUSTICE, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OFFAMILY & PROTECTIVE SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OFHEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSIONHUMAN TRAFFICKING PREVENTION COORDINATING COUNCILHUMAN TRAFFICKING PREVENTION TASK FORCEJUVENILE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, TEXASLICENSING & REGULATION, TEXAS COMMISSION OFLICENSING & REGULATION, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OFSTATE HEALTH SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF
Personalized for You
How does this bill affect your finances?
Personalize government policy and PRIA will tell you what this bill means for your household, plus every other piece of legislation we track. PRIA reads each provision against your financial profile to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.
Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
15 provisions identified: 5 benefits, 7 costs, 3 mixed.
Massage workers face mandatory license loss
The state must revoke massage therapist or instructor licenses for listed offenses, now including continuous promotion of prostitution. A conviction, guilty or no-contest plea, or deferred adjudication triggers the rule. Revocation also applies when licensing officials determine the person practiced or administered massage at or for a sexually oriented business. Losing the license can end the person’s ability to earn income from licensed massage work.
More supervision options for exploited defendants
Judges may grant community supervision to defendants charged with aggravated promotion of prostitution or compelling prostitution. The judge must find that the defendant committed the offense solely as a victim of a listed crime. That list now includes continuous promotion of prostitution. Community supervision remains the judge’s choice, not an automatic outcome.
More victims gain compensation law coverage
Victim compensation and victim-information laws now include qualifying conduct involving continuous promotion of prostitution in their trafficking definition. People must still meet the applicable forced-labor, services, or victimization requirements. The change broadens potential access but does not guarantee compensation or set a payment amount.
Some massage applicants gain licensing access
The law removes sexual-assault and aggravated-sexual-assault case outcomes from a specified list of massage-license disqualifications. This covers convictions, guilty or no-contest pleas, and deferred adjudications for those offenses. Human-trafficking offenses remain on that list. The change removes this specific barrier for affected applicants; it does not guarantee a license.
Broader trafficking crimes and tougher penalties
Beginning September 1, 2025, trafficking includes using force, fraud, or coercion to make someone promote prostitution online. For specified child or disabled-victim trafficking crimes, prosecutors need not prove the accused knew the victim’s age or disability. Those crimes, and trafficking involving intentional, knowing, or reckless strangulation or suffocation, are first-degree felonies. Covered trafficking near protected school locations carries 25 to 99 years in prison or life. This applies when any part occurs within 1,000 feet of listed locations, including bus stops and student pick-up zones, or in school transportation vehicles.
More victim statements allowed in court
The statement rule expands from children under 14 to children under 18 and also covers people with disabilities. It covers qualifying accounts of the charged offense and other alleged acts against those people. A statement must go to the first adult told about that matter, excluding the defendant, and meet the article’s evidence requirements. Courts must admit multiple qualifying statements when each describes different conduct by the defendant. Beginning September 1, 2025, coverage uses the Penal Code’s disability definition, replacing the prior definition for people age 13 or older who were substantially unable to protect or provide for themselves.
Trafficking data gets stronger privacy protections
The statewide trafficking data repository cannot store identifying information about suspected offenders, victims, or other individuals. The attorney general may hire an experienced college, university, or nonprofit to maintain it. The attorney general must send findings and recommendations from the data analysis to the state trafficking prevention task force. The task force reviews state-funded efforts and recommends improvements.
Some defendants lose first-offender program access
A prior conviction for continuous promotion of prostitution now bars entry to the first-offender solicitation prevention program. Participation also requires the prosecutor’s consent. The court must find that the defendant has no conviction on the program’s disqualifying-offense list.
Stricter local rules for massage businesses
Local governments may impose stricter rules on a massage business’s location, ownership, hours, or operation. This authority applies after at least three arrests or citations for listed offenses at the business, or a listed offense resulting in conviction. Continuous promotion of prostitution now counts among those offenses. The law authorizes local restrictions rather than requiring every community to adopt them.
Higher penalties for child sexual images
Possessing covered child sexual images is a third-degree felony for fewer than 10 depictions. Possessing 10 to 49 is a second-degree felony; 50 or more is a first-degree felony. Material depicting the specified child sexual-assault conduct also makes possession a first-degree felony, regardless of count. Promoting covered material, or possessing it with intent to promote, rises from a second-degree to a first-degree felony. A prior conviction under the child-image statute triggers a 15-year minimum for promotion-related offenses involving at least 50 depictions or the specified assault material.
Tougher penalties for prostitution-related crimes
Promoting prostitution at least twice during a period of 30 or more days is a new first-degree felony. Charges are limited to one count of this continuous offense for conduct involving the same victim. Soliciting prostitution is a second-degree felony when the other person is under 18, presented as under 18, or believed to be under 18. For an actual minor, prosecutors need not prove the accused knew the person’s age.
Witnesses face child-offense reporting duties
For acts on or after September 1, 2025, witnesses face a broader duty involving sexual or assaultive offenses against children under 18. The offense covers witnessing a covered crime or attempted crime and failing to immediately help or report it. It applies when the witness could assist without endangering themselves, and is a third-degree felony. The law also removes a prior exception based on the witness’s relationship to the child.
Trafficking training for studios and licensees
Tattoo and body-piercing studio employees must complete approved training on spotting and helping trafficking victims within the time set by rule. No employee must finish before January 1, 2026. At least one approved course must be free, and the state must post its approved-course list online. Studios must also display required trafficking signs. State licensing officials must require trafficking continuing education for covered cosmetology license holders; the law sets no course length or completion deadline.
Broader evidence rules with jury safeguards
Beginning September 1, 2025, courts must admit relevant evidence of defendants’ other acts against the alleged victim in listed prosecutions. This includes covered attempts and conspiracies and specified sexual or assaultive offenses against children under 18. The rule overrides the usual character-evidence restrictions in Rules 404 and 405. If either side asks, courts must explain the evidence’s permitted uses aloud when admitted and in written jury instructions.
Longer prosecution windows for victim cases
Prosecutors have no indictment deadline for continuous promotion of prostitution or failure to stop or report covered child offenses. For trafficking a disabled person under the specified provisions, the deadline is 10 years after the offense is discovered. For abandoning or endangering a child, prosecutors have until 10 years after the victim’s 18th birthday. That replaces five years from the offense date, preserving prosecution opportunities while extending defendants’ exposure.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsors
Joan Huffman
Republican • Senate
Jolanda "Jo" Jones
House
Lauren Ashley Simmons
House
Senfronia Thompson
House
Cosponsors
Lulu Flores
House
Richard Hayes
House
Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa
Democratic • Senate
Roll Call Votes
Senate vote • 5/16/2025
Record vote
Yes: 0 • No: 0
Senate vote • 5/16/2025
Record vote
Yes: 0 • No: 0
House vote • 5/6/2025
Record vote
Yes: 148 • No: 1
House vote • Unknown
Committee vote: Criminal Jurisprudence
Yes: 11 • No: 0
Senate vote • Unknown
Committee vote: Criminal Justice
Yes: 7 • No: 0
Actions Timeline
Effective on 9/1/25
5/29/2025HouseSigned by the Governor
5/29/2025HouseSent to the Governor
5/20/2025HouseSigned in the Senate
5/19/2025SenateSigned in the House
5/19/2025HouseReported enrolled
5/19/2025HouseSenate passage reported
5/16/2025HouseRecord vote
5/16/2025SenatePassed
5/16/2025SenateRead 3rd time
5/16/2025SenateRecord vote
5/16/2025SenateThree day rule suspended
5/16/2025SenateVote recorded in Journal
5/16/2025SenateRead 2nd time & passed to 3rd reading
5/16/2025SenateRules suspended-Regular order of business
5/16/2025SenatePlaced on intent calendar
5/15/2025SenateCommittee report printed and distributed
5/14/2025SenateReported favorably w/o amendments
5/14/2025SenateCo-sponsor authorized
5/14/2025SenateVote taken in committee
5/13/2025SenateConsidered in public hearing
5/13/2025SenateScheduled for public hearing on . . .
5/13/2025SenateReferred to Criminal Justice
5/7/2025SenateRead first time
5/7/2025SenateReceived from the House
5/7/2025Senate
Bill Text
Engrossed
Enrolled
House Committee Report
Introduced
Senate Committee Report
Related Bills
SB 2111, Relating to legal representation of indigent persons in this state and to proceedings before a magistrate including the appointment of counsel for an indigent defendant.
SB 1838, Relating to the appointment of attorneys ad litem and the compensation of certain attorneys ad litem in suits affecting the parent-child relationship filed by a governmental entity.
SB 3, Relating to the regulation of products derived from hemp, including consumable hemp products and the hemp-derived cannabinoids contained in those products; requiring occupational licenses and permits; imposing fees; creating criminal offenses; authorizing an administrative penalty.
SB 2878, Relating to the operation and administration of and practices and procedures related to proceedings in the judicial branch of state government, including court security, court documents and arrest warrants, document delivery, juvenile boards, constitutional amendment election challenges, mandatory expunction for certain persons, record retention, and youth diversion; increasing a criminal penalty; authorizing fees.
SB 646, Relating to repayment of certain mental health professional education loans.
HB 4325, Relating to civil liability for prohibited barratry.