Texas House passes House Bill 401
Bill defines offense of electronic solicitation of a minor

The law just got a little tougher on sex offenders who use text messages or other electronic message service in the solicitation of a minor.

"HB 401 addresses the serious problem of people using new technology to solicit mi- nors online and the problem of teachers using new technology to further improper relationships with students," said District 4 State Representative Betty Brown, who authored the bill. "While it is a crime to use certain types of technology to solicit minors and a crime for teachers to have sexual relationships with students, limited definitions of both crimes are a shortcoming in the current law."

House Bill 401 closes a loophole in the current law, which does not list text messaging as one of the means of communication that would define online solicitation of a minor.

"Text messaging is an increasingly common way for young people to communicate, and those wishing to harm children have figured this out," Rep. Brown said. "These adults use text messaging to try to build relationships with minors so that they can lure them into sexual relationships. "

One Texas student received more than 80 explicit text messages from a teacher attempting to solicit her, Brown said.

The offense of online solicitation of a minor is designed to allow adults to be charged with an offense before sexual contact occurs, and HB 401 will help ensure that if adults used text messaging to solicit a minor, it would fall under the offense.

HB 401 will also help ensure that if the crime of improper relationships between teachers and students involved in online solicitation, could be more appropriately punished than under the current law.

The crime of improper relationship between a teacher and student is a second-degree felony, and some online solicitation offenses are only state jail or third degree felonies.

Including online solicitation of minors within the offense of improper relationships between teachers and students - which would allow them to be punished as second degree felonies - would recognize that the online solicitation of minors was an especially serious crime if it involved teachers and students, Brown said.