Bill Text: TX HB683 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Relating to the prosecution of the offense of possession or use of law enforcement identification, insignia, or vehicles in a municipality and the clarification of the offenses of false identification as a peace officer and misrepresentation of property.

Sponsorship: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-2)

Status: (Passed) 2017-06-15 - Effective on 9/1/17 [HB683 Detail]

Download: Texas-2017-HB683-Enrolled.html

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H.B. No. 683

AN ACT
relating to the prosecution of the offense of possession or use of
law enforcement identification, insignia, or vehicles in a
municipality and the clarification of the offenses of false
identification as a peace officer and misrepresentation of
property.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Section 341.904, Local Government
Code, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 341.904. POSSESSION OR USE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT
IDENTIFICATION, INSIGNIA, OR VEHICLE IN A [POPULOUS] MUNICIPALITY.
SECTION 2. Section 341.904(b), Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(b) A [In a municipality with a population of 1.18 million
or more located primarily in a county with a population of 2 million
or more, a] person commits an offense if in a municipality the
person intentionally or knowingly:
(1) uses, possesses, or wears:
(A) a police identification item of the municipal
police department;
(B) an item bearing the insignia or design
prescribed by the police chief of the municipality for officers and
employees of the municipal police department to use while engaged
in official activities; or
(C) within the municipal police department's
jurisdiction, an item that is deceptively similar to a police
identification item of the department;
(2) uses, within the municipal police department's
jurisdiction, the name of the department in connection with an
object to create the appearance that the object belongs to or is
used by the department; or
(3) uses, possesses, or operates, within the municipal
police department's jurisdiction, a marked patrol vehicle that is
deceptively similar to a department patrol vehicle.
SECTION 3. Section 37.12, Penal Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a), (b), and (d) and adding Subsections (b-1)
and (c-1) to read as follows:
(a) A person commits an offense if:
(1) the person makes, provides to another person, or
possesses a card, document, badge, insignia, shoulder emblem, or
other item, including a vehicle, bearing an insignia of a law
enforcement agency that identifies a person as a peace officer or a
reserve law enforcement officer; and
(2) the person who makes, provides, or possesses the
item bearing the insignia knows that the person so identified by the
item is not commissioned as a peace officer or reserve law
enforcement officer as indicated on the item.
(b) It is a defense to prosecution under this section that:
(1) the card, document, badge, insignia, shoulder
emblem, or other item bearing an insignia of a law enforcement
agency clearly identifies the person as an honorary or junior peace
officer or reserve law enforcement officer, or as a member of a
junior posse; or
(2) the person identified as a peace officer or
reserve law enforcement officer by the item bearing the insignia
was commissioned in that capacity when the item was made.
(b-1) It is an exception to the application of this section
that [; or
[(3)] the item was used or intended for use
exclusively for decorative purposes or in an artistic or dramatic
presentation.
(c-1) For purposes of this section, an item bearing an
insignia of a law enforcement agency includes an item that contains
the word "police," "sheriff," "constable," or "trooper."
(d) A person commits an offense if the person intentionally
or knowingly misrepresents an object, including a vehicle, as
property belonging to a law enforcement agency. For purposes of
this subsection, intentionally or knowingly misrepresenting an
object as property belonging to a law enforcement agency includes
intentionally or knowingly displaying an item bearing an insignia
of a law enforcement agency in a manner that would lead a reasonable
person to interpret the item as property belonging to a law
enforcement agency.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 683 was passed by the House on May 2,
2017, by the following vote: Yeas 134, Nays 11, 1 present, not
voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 683 was passed by the Senate on May
24, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 1.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor