Bill Text: TX HB1265 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to creating the criminal offense of obstructing or interfering with a first responder or an emergency vehicle.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-03-04 - Referred to Criminal Jurisprudence [HB1265 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HB1265-Introduced.html
| 87R2763 MEW-D | ||
| By: Price | H.B. No. 1265 | |
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| relating to creating the criminal offense of obstructing or | ||
| interfering with a first responder or an emergency vehicle. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Chapter 42, Penal Code, is amended by adding | ||
| Section 42.063 to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 42.063. OBSTRUCTING OR INTERFERING WITH FIRST | ||
| RESPONDER OR EMERGENCY VEHICLE. (a) In this section: | ||
| (1) "Authorized emergency vehicle" has the meaning | ||
| assigned by Section 541.201, Transportation Code. | ||
| (2) "First responder" has the meaning assigned by | ||
| Section 421.095, Government Code. | ||
| (b) A person commits an offense if the person recklessly | ||
| obstructs or interferes with: | ||
| (1) a first responder's ability to render aid at the | ||
| scene of an emergency to a person who is suffering serious bodily | ||
| injury; or | ||
| (2) the passage of an authorized emergency vehicle | ||
| that is operating the vehicle's siren or emergency lighting system | ||
| to or from the scene of an emergency where a person is suffering | ||
| serious bodily injury. | ||
| (c) An offense under this section is a state jail felony, | ||
| except that the offense is a third degree felony if it is shown on | ||
| the trial of the offense that a person suffers death as a result of | ||
| the offense. | ||
| (d) For purposes of Subsection (b)(1), the actor is presumed | ||
| to have known a person is a first responder if the person was | ||
| wearing a distinctive uniform or badge indicating the person's | ||
| employment or duties as a first responder. | ||
| (e) If conduct constituting an offense under this section | ||
| also constitutes an offense under another section of this code, the | ||
| actor may be prosecuted under either section or both sections. | ||
| SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021. | ||
