85R5909 JRR-D
 
  By: Dale, Capriglione, Burkett H.B. No. 2974
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to certain sexual offenses; creating a criminal offense;
  increasing a criminal penalty.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 21.16(g), Penal Code, as added by
  Chapter 852 (S.B. 1135), Acts of the 84th Legislature, Regular
  Session, 2015, is amended to read as follows:
         (g)  An offense under this section is a state jail felony
  [Class A misdemeanor].
         SECTION 2.  Chapter 21, Penal Code, is amended by adding
  Section 21.18 to read as follows:
         Sec. 21.18.  SEXUAL COERCION. (a) In this section:
               (1)  "Intimate visual material" means the visual
  material described by Section 21.16(b)(1) or (c), as added by
  Chapter 852 (S.B. 1135), Acts of the 84th Legislature, Regular
  Session, 2015.
               (2)  "Sexual conduct" has the meaning assigned by
  Section 43.25.
         (b)  A person commits an offense if the person intentionally
  threatens, including by coercion or extortion, to commit an offense
  under Chapter 43 or Section 20A.02(a)(3), (4), (7), or (8), 21.02,
  21.08, 21.11, 21.12, 21.15, 21.16, as added by Chapter 852 (S.B.
  1135), Acts of the 84th Legislature, Regular Session, 2015, 21.16,
  as added by Chapter 676 (H.B. 207), Acts of the 84th Legislature,
  Regular Session, 2015, 22.011, or 22.021 to obtain, in return for
  not committing the threatened offense or in connection with the
  threatened offense, any of the following benefits:
               (1)  intimate visual material;
               (2)  an act involving sexual conduct causing arousal or
  gratification; or
               (3)  a monetary benefit or other benefit of value.
         (c)  A person commits an offense if the person intentionally
  threatens, including by coercion or extortion, to commit an offense
  under Chapter 19 or 20 or Section 20A.02(a)(1), (2), (5), or (6) to
  obtain, in return for not committing the threatened offense or in
  connection with the threatened offense, either of the following
  benefits:
               (1)  intimate visual material; or
               (2)  an act involving sexual conduct causing arousal or
  gratification.
         (d)  This section applies to a threat regardless of how that
  threat is communicated, including a threat transmitted through
  e-mail or an Internet website, social media account, or chat room
  and a threat made by other electronic or technological means.
         (e)  An offense under this section is a state jail felony,
  except that the offense is a felony of the third degree if it is
  shown on the trial of the offense that the defendant has previously
  been convicted of an offense under this section.
         SECTION 3.  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 on the date 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 was
  committed before that date.
         SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.