Texas Bill Regarding NDAs Moves Forward: How Will It Impact Churches?
A bill to stop the use of nondisclosure agreements to prevent sexual abuse victims from telling their stories has advanced in the Texas legislature.
On March 19, the Texas House Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence voted unanimously to report House Bill 748 favorably to the full House of Representatives and recommend passage.
The bill, authored by Rep. Jeff Leach (R-Plano), is called “Trey’s Law” after Trey Carlock, a sexual abuse victim of Kanakuk Kamps’ employee Peter Newman. Carlock died by suicide after suffering in silence due to an NDA.
His sister Elizabeth Carlock Phillips spoke to the committee in support of the bill, sharing how her brother endured a decade of abuse, then signed a restrictive NDA that caused him to even question whether he should discuss details of his abuse with his therapist.
“They will always control me,” Phillips said her brother believed about his abuser and those who protected Newman.
Nearly 30,000 people signed a petition asking Kanakuk to release sexual abuse victims from their NDAs. Phillips said Kanakuk first claimed they don’t use NDAs, then claimed it uses them only at the request of the victims, and finally admitted to using them but only because their insurance company requires them to do so.
Healing happens by “sharing your story in safe places, finding support, and solidarity,” Phillips told the committee.
NDAs that take away a sexual abuse survivor’s voice and ability to tell their story are taking away their “path to healing,” she said.
Logan Yandell, another Kanakuk abuse survivor who entered a settlement with an NDA, filed a lawsuit alleging that his settlement was based on false and fraudulent representations by the Kanakuk defendants. His case was dismissed, but he will likely appeal the ruling.
Cindy Clemishire, who has shared how Gateway’s founding pastor, Robert Morris, began abusing her when she was 12 years old, told the committee that Morris offered her a settlement in 2007 with an NDA attached.
“Because I refused to sign that document giving up the right to freely speak about events in my life, last Wednesday, March 12, 2025, almost 43 years after my abuse began, Robert Morris was indicted in Oklahoma on five acts of lewd acts with a child,” Clemishire said.
She pointed out that her attorney who sought the settlement with Morris in 2007 was Gentner Drummond, who is now the attorney general of Oklahoma and who secured the indictment against Morris.
“Because I refused to sign an NDA, my abuser is finally being held accountable for the horrific crimes he committed against me as a child,” Clemishire said, adding that she is now able to share her story and “be the voice for so many people who don’t have the courage to come forward.”
Joseph Cleveland was groomed and molested by a man “working alongside” Chi Alpha, the college ministry of the Assemblies of God. He told the committee that he has “watched in horror” as the Assemblies of God used NDAs to “insulate organizational leadership” and “to hide.”
MinistryWatch has extensively reported about the sexual abuse scandal in Chi Alpha involving Daniel Savala, who pleaded guilty to sexual abuse in Alaska but was still allowed to be involved with young men through Chi Alpha. He has been indicted on charges of indecency with a child.
Curtis Garrison, also an abuse survivor, reminded the committee of the rampant abuse that has occurred in the Boy Scouts of America organization. Garrison was a victim in his Boy Scout troop and now works with Speak Out to Stop Child Sexual Abuse. He said the Boy Scouts has used NDAs with claimants and employees to protect predators.
Bob Leland of NDA Free Campus has urged the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) to reconsider its position on NDAs and to remove resources from its website that “contain, justify, or recommend NDAs.”
“State openly and publicly that NDAs that cover up abuse or misconduct are violations of ECFA Standards 1 (Biblical practices) and 4 (use of funds), and even add language to Standard 1 specifically condemning such NDAs,” Leland wrote to the ECFA in an email.
In response to an inquiry by MinistryWatch, Jake Lapp, vice president of member services at the ECFA wrote, “ECFA discourages the improper use of NDAs to cover up abuse. While ECFA Standards do not explicitly reference NDAs, the Standards do speak to operating in accordance with biblical truths and practices, use of funds, and compliance with laws. If there are concerns related to a member’s compliance with ECFA Standards, we would address those through ECFA’s accountability processes which are communicated on our website.”
In Texas, the House Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence recommended a committee substitute that applies more broadly than the original bill.
The original bill made an NDA “void and unenforceable as against the public policy of [the] state,” if it prohibits a party from notifying law enforcement or a regulatory agency about child sexual abuse or prohibits a party from disclosing facts about child sexual abuse during an investigation or prosecution.
The newer version applies to any NDA that “prohibits a party from disclosing an act of sexual abuse or facts related to an act of sexual abuse to any other person.”
Leach clarified during the committee hearing that while the bill is meant to empower victims who want to speak out, it also leaves room for victims who may not want to speak out.
Jennifer Almond, who spoke on behalf of the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops in support of the bill, said she was grateful that it included an option for survivors who wish to protect their confidentiality. The Catholic Church will enter into a confidentiality agreement at the request of a survivor who does not wish to have their name disclosed, Almond said. However, the church will disclose the name of the credibly accused priest.
“The only concern we might have about the bill is how the retroactiveness at the end of the bill will work,” Almond added, but still expressed her overall support for the bill.
The bill applies to all NDAs entered into before, on, or after the effective date of the bill if it is passed.
Before it is enacted as a law, the bill must pass the Texas, House then move through a Senate committee and be approved by the Texas Senate before being signed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
This article has been republished with permission from Ministry Watch.
Kim Roberts is a freelance writer who holds a Juris Doctorate with honors from Baylor University and an undergraduate degree in government from Angelo State University. She has three young adult children who were home schooled and is happily married to her husband of 28 years.