Senate Bill 20 amends and adds a new section to the Penal Code to clarify and expand penalties for accessing, possessing, or promoting visual material which appears to be a child engaging in sexual acts or patently offensive sexual depictions as enumerated in Section 43.21 (a)(1)(B), Penal Code. Offenses are expanded to capture new visual depictions, such as artificial intelligence-generated content, cartoons or animation, and other computer software-generated sexual material. Furthermore, it establishes a new standard whereupon an offense still occurs regardless of whether the depiction is of an actual child. An offense under this new section is considered a state jail felony, or a third-degree felony if a person has been previously convicted, or a second-degree felony if a person has been previously convicted two or more times.
The bill also reenacts and amends Section 71.02(a), Penal Code, which addresses engagement in organized criminal activity, in order to classify these new offenses as organized crime if the offender has intent to establish, maintain, or participate in a combination or in the profits of a combination as a member of a criminal street gang or foreign terrorist organization, and conspires to commit any offense under the newly established Section 43.235, Penal Code.