Bill Text: TX HB4502 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to creating the criminal offenses of terrorism and terroristic hoax.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-26 - Referred to Criminal Jurisprudence [HB4502 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-HB4502-Introduced.html
| 86R14683 AJZ-F | ||
| By: Lang | H.B. No. 4502 | |
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| relating to creating the criminal offenses of terrorism and | ||
| terroristic hoax. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Title 10, Penal Code, is amended by adding | ||
| Chapter 50 to read as follows: | ||
| CHAPTER 50. TERRORISM | ||
| Sec. 50.01. DEFINITION. In this chapter, "terrorist | ||
| organization" means any of the following: | ||
| (1) a domestic or foreign organization that engages or | ||
| prepares to engage in the planning, preparation, commission, or | ||
| support of an act of terrorism; | ||
| (2) a domestic or foreign organization that has the | ||
| capability and intent to engage in an act of terrorism; or | ||
| (3) an organization designated as a foreign terrorist | ||
| organization by the United States secretary of state as authorized | ||
| by 8 U.S.C. Section 1189. | ||
| Sec. 50.02. TERRORISM. (a) A person commits an offense if | ||
| the person commits one or more offenses under Section 20.03 or | ||
| engages in an act of violence that causes felony damage to property, | ||
| serious bodily injury, or death, or threatens to commit such an | ||
| offense, with the intent to: | ||
| (1) intimidate or coerce a civilian population to | ||
| further the objectives of a terrorist organization; | ||
| (2) influence the policy or conduct of the state | ||
| government by intimidation or coercion; | ||
| (3) support a broader ideological movement, including | ||
| a nonviolent movement, with the objective of overthrowing the state | ||
| government and replacing the existing form of government with a | ||
| form of government that is not based on the essential principles of | ||
| liberty; or | ||
| (4) retaliate for policy or conduct of the state | ||
| government by intimidation or coercion. | ||
| (b) An offense under this section is a felony of the first | ||
| degree. | ||
| Sec. 50.03. TERRORISTIC HOAX. (a) A person commits an | ||
| offense if the person knowingly simulates an offense under Section | ||
| 50.02 as a prank and: | ||
| (1) intentionally uses a substance to cause fear, | ||
| intimidation, or anxiety in a person and to cause a reasonable | ||
| belief by the person that the substance is placed, sent, delivered, | ||
| or otherwise used as an act of biochemical or radiological | ||
| terrorism requiring an emergency response or the evacuation or | ||
| quarantine of a person, place, or item; or | ||
| (2) commits or threatens to commit an act of violence, | ||
| sabotage, felony damage to property, or serious bodily injury with | ||
| the intent to cause fear, intimidation, or anxiety in a person and a | ||
| reasonable belief by the person that the act or threat is an act of | ||
| terrorism to disrupt any place, population, or business in this | ||
| state or to disrupt the state government. | ||
| (b) An offense under this section is a felony of the first | ||
| degree. | ||
| SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act apply 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, 2019. | ||
