A hearing in the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence, on HB 1089 (which added the "omission" word), was held on March 30, 1977. Tom Hanna was the witness called to talk about the bill. He told BuzzFeed News in an email he was the Criminal District Attorney for Jefferson County, Texas, at that time. (He also said that as it was a long time ago, he does not recall his testimony.) Here is a transcription of the relevant portion, taken from an audiotape of the hearing: Unknown voice: “What do you classify as omission to act?” Hanna: “Well this situation — we’ve had cases that come in our jurisdiction where a parent has refused to feed a child. And we’ve had a few cases of starvation that literally — the child until discovered is to the point of death. Under the law, that is subject to cover — we’re afraid we’re going to be dealing with a situation where the courts say ‘you did not do anything, you merely neglected to act.’ We need to go and have to define this as a duty on the part of the parent, or we’re going to have to find it in terms of an omission to act.” (He is asked a couple more questions, about whether this would cover someone who didn’t go into water to save a potentially drowning child, and about to whom a duty to act would apply. He then steps down.)