---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to defenses to prosecution for certain offenses involving material or conduct that is obscene or otherwise harmful to children."
description: "Relating to defenses to prosecution for certain offenses involving material or conduct that is obscene or otherwise harmful to children."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tx"
legislature: "Texas Legislature"
session: "89R"
identifier: "SB 412"
citation: "Texas SB 412 (89R)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Courts--Judges (I0140)", "Crimes--Against Persons--General (I0170)", "Crimes--Against Persons--Sexual (I0171)", "Criminal Procedure--General (I0208)", "LIBRARY COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT & MATERIALS (SE35P)", "Law Enforcement (I0510)", "Libraries & Librarians (I0523)", "Minors--Crimes Against (I0532)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Hefner", "Hickland", "Metcalf", "Middleton", "Patterson", "Vasut"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 51
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2024-11-21"
last_action: "2025-05-19"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e9fa69a8-1fc4-4e1f-bda6-9656b4d030c2"
source_url: "ftp://ftp.legis.state.tx.us/bills/89R/billhistory/senate_bills/SB00400_SB00499/SB 412.xml"
source_hash: "9a7442a626e05380c1ece17e16fa3814da0ae4ee59b0b530f331870d1d1cc397"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-tx"]
---

# Texas SB 412 (89R) — Relating to defenses to prosecution for certain offenses involving material or conduct that is obscene or otherwise harmful to children.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/billtext/html/SB00412I.HTM)
2. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/billtext/html/SB00412E.HTM)
3. **House Committee Report** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/billtext/html/SB00412H.HTM)
4. **Senate Committee Report** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/billtext/html/SB00412S.HTM)
5. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/billtext/html/SB00412F.HTM)

## Votes

- passage — **99–31** (pass) · lower
- passage — **22–9** (pass) · upper
- passage — **21–9** (pass) · upper
- passage — **92–39** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Hefner — primary (person)
- Hickland — primary (person)
- Metcalf — primary (person)
- Middleton — primary (person)
- Patterson — primary (person)
- Vasut — primary (person)
- Bettencourt — cosponsor (person)
- Bumgarner — cosponsor (person)
- Creighton — cosponsor (person)
- Flores — cosponsor (person)
- Hagenbuch — cosponsor (person)
- Hall — cosponsor (person)
- Holt — cosponsor (person)
- Parker — cosponsor (person)
- Spiller — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2024-11-21** Received by the Secretary of the Senate `filing, introduction`
- **2024-11-21** Filed `filing`
- **2025-02-03** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2025-02-03** Referred to Criminal Justice `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-04** Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
- **2025-03-04** Considered in public hearing
- **2025-03-04** Testimony taken in committee
- **2025-03-04** Vote taken in committee
- **2025-03-06** Reported favorably as substituted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-06** Committee report printed and distributed
- **2025-03-11** Co-author authorized
- **2025-03-11** Placed on intent calendar
- **2025-03-12** Co-author authorized
- **2025-03-18** Co-author authorized
- **2025-03-18** Rules suspended-Regular order of business
- **2025-03-18** Record vote
- **2025-03-18** Read 2nd time & passed to engrossment `reading-2`
- **2025-03-18** Record vote
- **2025-03-18** Statement(s) submitted
- **2025-03-19** Rules suspended-Regular order of business
- **2025-03-19** Record vote
- **2025-03-19** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2025-03-19** Passed `passage`
- **2025-03-19** Record vote
- **2025-03-19** Reported engrossed
- **2025-03-20** Received from the Senate `introduction`
- **2025-04-09** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2025-04-09** Referred to State Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2025-04-28** Considered in public hearing
- **2025-04-28** Reported favorably w/o amendment(s) `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-04-29** Comte report filed with Committee Coordinator `filing`
- **2025-04-29** Committee report distributed
- **2025-04-29** Committee report sent to Calendars
- **2025-05-01** Laid out in lieu of companion
- **2025-05-01** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2025-05-01** Point of order withdrawn `withdrawal`
- **2025-05-01** Point of order withdrawn `withdrawal`
- **2025-05-01** Passed to 3rd reading
- **2025-05-01** Record vote
- **2025-05-01** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2025-05-02** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2025-05-02** Passed `passage`
- **2025-05-02** Record vote
- **2025-05-02** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2025-05-05** House passage reported `passage`
- **2025-05-05** Reported enrolled `enrolled`
- **2025-05-07** Signed in the Senate `passage`
- **2025-05-07** Signed in the House `passage`
- **2025-05-07** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-05-19** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-05-19** Effective on 9/1/25 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/e9fa69a8-1fc4-4e1f-bda6-9656b4d030c2`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Texas legislature records).