Bill Text: TX HB372 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to the affirmative defense to prosecution for a criminal offense for persons acting under duress.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2025-02-28 - Referred to Criminal Jurisprudence [HB372 Detail]

Download: Texas-2025-HB372-Introduced.html

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89R682 MCF-F
By: Thompson H.B. No. 372

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the affirmative defense to prosecution for a criminal
offense for persons acting under duress.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 8.05(c), Penal Code, is amended to read
as follows:
(c) Compulsion within the meaning of this section exists
only if the force or threat of force would render a reasonable
person in the situation of the defendant [reasonable firmness]
incapable of resisting the pressure.
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 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 occurred
before that date.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.