At a meeting of the Committee on Criminal Justice, senators adopted a committee substitute for House Bill 3073, the Summer Willis Act, clarifying when intoxication or impairment removes a person's ability to consent in sexual-assault cases and reported the substitute to the full Senate with a favorable recommendation.

The change narrows the statutory phrasing used in the substitute so the law specifies that the accused “knows that the other person is intoxicated or impaired by any substance to the extent that the other person is incapable of consenting,” rather than the prior language stating the actor “knows that the other person cannot consent because of intoxication or impairment.”

Senator Paxton, sponsor of House Bill 3073, told the committee the wording is intended as a clarification. “The new committee substitute says … ‘the actor knows that the other person is intoxicated or impaired by any substance to the extent that the other person is incapable of consenting,’” Paxton said. He added the change “is just a clarifying change, not…a change in intent at all,” and that the new substitute “maintains all of the revisions that were in the previous substitute.”

Chair Senator Flores moved to remove the previously adopted committee substitute and adopt the new committee substitute for House Bill 3073. With no objections, the chair declared the motion adopted. The clerk recorded a roll-call vote of seven ayes, no nays; the committee’s recommendation is to report the substitute favorably to the full Senate.

Committee discussion was limited to the sponsor’s explanation; no questions were recorded on the bill during the committee meeting. The action is procedural: the committee adopted language the sponsor described as clarifying and sent the bill forward for consideration by the full Senate.

The committee then recessed subject to the call of the chair.