A new law to completely ban nondisclosure agreements in cases of sexual assault will go into effect later this year after it received Gov. Greg Abbott's signature over the weekend.
Abbott on Saturday signed Senate Bill 835, known as "Trey's Law." Initially aimed at banning NDAs in child sexual abuse cases, SB 835 was expanded to ban those agreements in all sexual assault and human trafficking cases. It will also release victims currently under NDAs from those agreements, unless a defendant is specifically granted a court order to maintain an existing NDA. It's set to go into effect Sept. 1.
NDAs can be part of larger settlements in which one or more parties agree that certain information will remain confidential. While NDAs were created to keep proprietary business information like trade secrets or sensitive client information confidential, they've sparked controversy in recent years over their use in civil settlements related to sexual misconduct.
Authored by Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, SB 835 passed the Texas House unanimously last month with a vote of 144-0 and was unanimously approved by the Texas Senate with a vote of 31-0.
"Trey's Law," was first authored and filed by Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, as HB 748 in November after the House committee heard testimonies a month earlier from child sexual abuse victims and victims' advocates.
It was approved unanimously in April by the House but was delayed as it waited for a Senate committee hearing, leading Leach to suspect the Senate of potentially trying to weaken the bill.
Instead, the Senate passed its companion bill SB 835.
It's named in honor of Trey Carlock, who signed an NDA prohibiting him from speaking publicly about the sexual abuse he experienced when he was a child at Christian-based Kanakuk Kamps. Carlock later died by suicide in 2019.
His sister, Elizabeth Carlock Philips, spoke on his behalf at previous committee hearings in October and March.
Cindy Clemishire was also among those who testifed. Her alleged abuser Robert Morris was indicted on child sexual abuse charges in Oklahoma in March. Clemishire accused Morris of abusing her in the 1980s when she was a child.
Clemishire said Morris' lawyers offered her $25,000 in 2007 if she agreed to sign the NDA and take blame for the alleged abuse — but Clemishire declined that offer.
"I'm sitting here today because I did not accept that offer and refused to sign an NDA saying I couldn't speak about my life," Clemishire told lawmakers in October.
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