Bill Text: TX HB627 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to prohibiting certain conduct intended to intimidate or interfere with a person seeking or providing health care services or attending an established place of religious worship; increasing a criminal penalty.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-03-01 - Referred to Criminal Jurisprudence [HB627 Detail]

Download: Texas-2021-HB627-Introduced.html

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87R3645 JSC-D
By: Rosenthal H.B. No. 627

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to prohibiting certain conduct intended to intimidate or
interfere with a person seeking or providing health care services
or attending an established place of religious worship; increasing
a criminal penalty.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 42.01(d), Penal Code, is amended to read
as follows:
(d) An offense under this section is a Class C misdemeanor,
except that the offense is a Class B misdemeanor if the offense was
[unless] committed:
(1) under Subsection (a)(7) or (a)(8); or
(2) under Subsection (a)(4), if the actor engaged in
the prohibited conduct with the intent to intimidate or interfere
with a person:
(A) seeking or providing health care services; or
(B) attending an established place of religious
worship[, in which event it is a Class B misdemeanor].
SECTION 2. Section 42.04, Penal Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a) and (c) and adding Subsection (d) to read
as follows:
(a) Except as provided by Subsection (d), if [If] conduct
that would otherwise violate Section 42.01(a)(5) (Unreasonable
Noise), 42.03 (Obstructing Passageway), or 42.055 (Funeral Service
Disruptions) consists of speech or other communication, of
gathering with others to hear or observe such speech or
communication, or of gathering with others to picket or otherwise
express in a nonviolent manner a position on social, economic,
political, or religious questions, the actor must be ordered to
move, disperse, or otherwise remedy the violation prior to his
arrest if he has not yet intentionally harmed the interests of
others which those sections seek to protect.
(c) Except as provided by Subsection (d), it [It] is a
defense to prosecution under Section 42.01(a)(5), 42.03, or 42.055:
(1) that in circumstances in which this section
requires an order no order was given;
(2) that an order, if given, was manifestly
unreasonable in scope; or
(3) that an order, if given, was promptly obeyed.
(d) An order under Subsection (a) is not required, and the
defense provided under Subsection (c) does not apply, in the
prosecution of an offense under Section 42.03 if the actor engaged
in the prohibited conduct:
(1) with respect to the entry of a health care facility
or established place of religious worship; and
(2) with the intent to intimidate or interfere with a
person seeking or providing health care services at the facility or
attending the place of worship, as applicable.
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 occurred
before that date.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.