Has anybody heard that the Governor signed a law that makes the 3 year rule on consent of adults having sex with children (statutory rape) been expanded to 5 years? Is this just a rumor?

The erroneous rumors about legislation that supposedly passed, that is.

The answer is, no, what you describe did not pass. However, the Legislature did create a new offense of Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Child/Children which, for purposes of that offense only, includes a 5-year "Romeo and Juliet" affirmative defense. This does not otherwise change existing law; in fact, multiple sex crimes that cannot be prosecuted under the new continuous offense due to a 4-year age difference between the actors can still be prosecuted under other existing laws that carry a 3-year affirmative defense. They just can't be subjected to a punishment range of 25 years-to-life, as under the new continuous crime.

There will be plenty more of these rumors floating around this summer, so y'all feel free to post them on the user forum and I'll try to answer them.

Of course, Shannon, you could just suggest they wait and buy the handy-dandy Legislative Update published by TDCAA and written by you.