The debate over what counts as inappropriate material for minors has been a flashpoint at the Texas Capitol — and beyond — for years.
And in 2025, the Texas Legislature's 89th session was no different. Earlier this year, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 412, which makes changes that could mean criminal charges for educators.
To fully understand the new law, which takes effect on Sept. 1, you first need to understand how Texas legally defines what's considered inappropriate material for kids. That stemmed from a 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Miller v California, which established a three-prong test for what counts as obscene speech.
"The first is whether an average person applying community standards would find the work as a whole appealing to what's called the prurient interest," said UT-Austin Law Professor Jennifer Laurin. "The second is that the work depicts something that is sexual or bodily in a patently offensive way. And the third is that it lacks, on the whole, serious literary, political, scientific value."
The very same year as that court case, Texas used similar language to define what materials the state considered harmful for minors. Under the Texas Penal Code, these materials are illegal to sell, distribute or display.
For decades, though, there's been a carve out called the "affirmative defense." This offered legal protection to people — like educators or doctors — if the material deemed potentially harmful was used for "educational, scientific, psychiatric, psychological, governmental, or legislative reasons."
But once SB 412 takes effect, that's no longer the case. The legislation means the affirmative defense is no more.
Supporters of the change say it will protect Texas' kids, adding that bad actors could use the affirmative defense carve out to expose children to harmful material without consequences. That view is shared by the bill's author, Republican state Sen. Mays Middleton, who said he filed the legislation in response to parental concerns.
"The current loopholes of prosecution are frankly so big you could drive a truck through them," Middleton told lawmakers in a March hearing on the measure. "Senate Bill 412 ensures that children are protected from sexualization and abusers can be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
Among those who testified in favor of SB 412 at the hearing was Shannon Ayres. She is the education director with the Texas chapter of Citizens Defending Freedom, a national conservative advocacy group.
"Imagine a teacher, coach, or librarian giving your child pornography, but that teacher being protected by the law," Ayres said. "It's hard to believe that this is Texas, but it is."
But Clay Robison, a spokesperson for the Texas State Teachers Association, says that isn't a real problem in the state. To him, SB 412 is an attack on educators.
"Teachers are not exposing kids to pornography," he said. "Teachers are trying to teach. Sometimes nudity is a reality, sex is a reality. They shouldn't be punished or run the risk of being punished and have to go through the expense and the humiliation of a criminal trial just because they're trying to do their jobs."
Now that SB 412's removing the affirmative defense for teachers and others, some worry about the chilling effect it could have in classrooms and libraries. This includes Laney Hawes, co-founder of the parents' group Texas Freedom to Read Project.
"It's like a threat to frighten educators and librarians and to encourage this silent self-censorship," she said. "They're now so scared to buy any books or have any books in libraries that you know that someone doesn't like that someone could find fault with."
Haws pointed to Granbury, TX, where a law enforcement officer spent two years trying to bring charges against three school librarians because of books that were on the shelves in the local school district.
Those charges were never filed, because the Hood County district attorney said there was not enough evidence. But ultimately, one of the librarians left the district.
But to some, like Mary Elizabeth Castle with the conservative policy group Texas Values, that hesitation is actually the ideal outcome of SB 412 taking effect.
"Our hope is that this law serves [as] more of a deterrent," she said, hoping people know that "if you have these obscene materials, sex ed, books, or otherwise — you don't do it."
Then, said Castle, it would be up to parents or schools to say if "someone's not obeying the law."
UT Law's Jennifer Laurin said getting rid of the affirmative defense doesn't necessarily mean any criminal charges will be filed. But once the measure takes effect on Sept 1., the door will be open if any prosecutor agrees to take on a case.
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