Bill Text: TX HB266 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to offenses involving violating the civil rights of a person in custody and engaging in improper sexual activity with a person in custody; providing certain enhanced penalties.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-03-25 - Left pending in committee [HB266 Detail]

Download: Texas-2015-HB266-Introduced.html

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84R1225 ADM-D
By: Miles H.B. No. 266

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to offenses involving violating the civil rights of a
person in custody and engaging in improper sexual activity with a
person in custody; providing certain enhanced penalties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 39.04, Penal Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (b) and (c) and adding Subsections (b-1),
(c-1), and (c-2) to read as follows:
(b) An offense under Subsection (a)(1) is a Class A
misdemeanor. An offense under Subsection (a)(2) is a state jail
felony, except that an offense under Subsection (a)(2) is:
(1) a felony of the second degree if the offense is
committed against:
(A) [(1)] an individual in the custody of the
Texas Juvenile Justice Department [Youth Commission]; or
(B) [(2)] a juvenile offender detained in or
committed to a correctional facility the operation of which is
financed primarily with state funds; or
(2) a felony of the first degree if, during a period
that is 30 or more days in duration and regardless of whether the
conduct involves one or more victims, the person on two or more
occasions engages in conduct constituting an offense under
Subsection (a)(2) against:
(A) an individual in the custody of the Texas
Juvenile Justice Department; or
(B) a juvenile offender detained in or committed
to a correctional facility the operation of which is financed
primarily with state funds.
(b-1) If a jury is the trier of fact in a case in which the
state seeks to establish punishment under Subsection (b)(2),
members of the jury are not required to agree unanimously on which
specific conduct engaged in by the defendant constituted an offense
under Subsection (a)(2) or on which exact date or dates that conduct
occurred. The jury must agree unanimously that the defendant,
during a period that is 30 or more days in duration, on two or more
occasions engaged in conduct that constituted an offense under
Subsection (a)(2).
(c) This section shall not preclude prosecution for any
other offense set out in this code. 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 under both sections.
(c-1) A defendant may not be convicted in the same criminal
action of another offense the victim of which is an alleged victim
of an offense under Subsection (a)(2) for which the state seeks to
establish punishment under Subsection (b)(2), and an element of
which is any act or conduct that is alleged as an element of the
offense under Subsection (a)(2) for which the state seeks to
establish punishment under Subsection (b)(2), unless the other
offense:
(1) is charged in the alternative;
(2) occurred outside the period in which the offense
under Subsection (a)(2) is alleged to have occurred; or
(3) is considered by the trier of fact to be a lesser
included offense of the offense under Subsection (a)(2).
(c-2) A defendant may not be charged with more than one
count alleging the commission of an offense under Subsection (a)(2)
for which the state seeks to establish punishment under Subsection
(b)(2) if all of the specific conduct that is alleged to have been
engaged in involves a single victim.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.
An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect when the offense was committed, and
the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For
purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the
effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred
before that date.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.