AUSTIN, Texas (BP) — Texas lawmakers banned nondisclosure clauses in sexual abuse settlement agreements May 26, following Missouri’s passage of similar legislation weeks earlier.
The Texas legislature approved the final version of its bill on Memorial Day, first approving it in the House in April, before the Senate’s nod to a similar version of the bill on May 15, with the House’s final approval yesterday.
The Missouri General Assembly moved swiftly to pass its bill, with the House approving the legislation on April 22 and the Senate following April 29.
Known as Trey’s Law, the legislation applies to childhood sexual abuse cases in both states, but also extends to cases involving abuse committed against individuals of all ages in Texas. Texas and Missouri leaders are in a growing push to end the misuse of nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) against abuse survivors who enter civil settlement agreements.
The use of NDAs to silence sexual abuse survivors makes such agreements controversial, Jeff Dalrymple, director of abuse prevention and response for the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, has told Baptist Press.
“In addition to legal considerations, ministry leaders should carefully consider both ethical and moral implications of NDA use. There may be situations in which an NDA could be an appropriate tool for a ministry to use, for instance, to protect the private information of ministry participants or in employment transitions,” Dalrymple said in April. “However, they should never be used to prevent survivors of abuse from sharing their stories or to allow responsible parties to avoid responsibility for their actions.”
Jeff Leach, a Southern Baptist and member of Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen, was among five authors of the House version of the Texas bill.
The laws are named in honor of Texas native Trey Carlock, who committed suicide when overcome by the trauma of an NDA related to sexual abuse at Kanakuk Kamps in Missouri, his sister Elizabeth Carlock Phillips has said while advocating for the legislation.
Carlock sued Kanakuk after enduring what he described as a decade of child sexual abuse by then camp director Pete Newman, and accepted a civil settlement with a restrictive NDA that family members say led to Carlock’s 2019 suicide.
“I am proud to be Trey’s sister,” Phillips said when Texas was considering the bill, “and I hope Texas will be proud of Trey’s Law.”
Newman is serving two life sentences plus 30 years in a Missouri state prison for sexual crimes involving multiple minors at Kanakuk. Civil lawsuits are still being filed related to the abuse, most recently in April.
Tennessee passed a bill in 2018 nullifying NDAs in childhood sexual abuse cases and is the only other state to have done so to date. But more than a dozen states have passed legislation limiting to varying degrees the use of NDAs in employer-employee settlement agreements regarding sexual abuse claims, the international law fire Ogletree Deakins reported, in addition to the federal 2022 Speak Out Act.
With the respective governors’ signatures, Trey’s law becomes effective Aug. 28 in Missouri; Sept. 1 in Texas, according to the legislation filed on the respective legislative websites.
(EDITOR’S NOTE — Diana Chandler is Baptist Press’ senior writer.)
