Bill Text: TX HB80 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to official oppression; creating offenses.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 48-2)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-04-10 - Left pending in committee [HB80 Detail]

Download: Texas-2013-HB80-Introduced.html

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By: Simpson H.B. No. 80

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to official oppression; creating offenses.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 39.03, Penal Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c-1) to read as
follows:
(a) A public servant acting under color of his office or
employment commits an offense if he:
(1) intentionally subjects another to mistreatment or
to arrest, detention, search, seizure, dispossession, assessment,
or lien that he knows is unlawful;
(2) intentionally denies or impedes another in the
exercise or enjoyment of any right, privilege, power, or immunity,
knowing his conduct is unlawful; [or]
(3) intentionally subjects another to sexual
harassment; or
(4) as part of a determination of whether to grant
another person access to a publicly accessible venue or form of
transportation, intentionally and without probable cause:
(A) touches the anus, breast, buttocks, or sexual
organ of the other person, including touching through clothing;
(B) removes a child younger than 18 years of age
from the physical custody or control of a parent or guardian of the
child or a person standing in the stead of a parent or guardian of
the child;
(C) otherwise engages in conduct constituting an
offense under Section 22.01(a)(3); or
(D) harasses, delays, coerces, threatens,
intimidates, or effectively denies or conditions access to the
other person because of the other person's refusal to consent to
(A), (B), or (C).
(c-1) For purposes of Subsection (a)(4), "public servant"
includes:
(1) an officer, employee, or agent of:
(A) the United States;
(B) a branch, department, or agency of the United
States; or
(C) another person acting under a contract with a
branch, department, or agency of the United States to provide a
security or law enforcement service; or
(2) any other person acting under color of federal
law.
SECTION 2. (a) This section applies only to a prosecution
of an offense under Section 39.03(a)(4), Penal Code, as added by
this Act, in which the defendant was, at the time of the alleged
offense, acting under the color of federal law.
(b) In a prosecution described by Subsection (a) of this
section, if the government of the United States, the defendant, or
the defendant's employer challenges the validity of Section
39.03(a)(4), Penal Code, as added by this Act, on grounds of
unconstitutionality, preemption, or sovereign immunity, the
attorney general of this state, with the consent of the appropriate
local county or district attorney, shall take any actions necessary
on behalf of the state to defend the validity of the statute. The
attorney general may make any legal arguments the attorney general
considers appropriate, including that this Act constitutes a valid
exercise of:
(1) the state's police powers;
(2) the liberty interests of the people that are
secured by the United States Constitution;
(3) the powers reserved to the states by the Tenth
Amendment to the United States Constitution; or
(4) the rights and protections secured by the Texas
Constitution.
SECTION 3. This Act shall be construed, as a matter of state
law, to be enforceable up to but no further than the maximum
possible extent consistent with federal constitutional
requirements, even if that construction is not readily apparent, as
such constructions are authorized only to the extent necessary to
save the statute from judicial invalidation.
SECTION 4. Every provision in this Act and every
application of the provisions in this Act are severable from each
other as a matter of state law. If any application of any provision
in this Act to any person or group of persons or circumstances is
found by a court to be invalid, the remainder of this Act and the
application of the Act's provisions to all other persons and
circumstances may not be affected. All constitutionally valid
applications of this Act shall be severed from any applications
that a court finds to be invalid, leaving the valid applications in
force, because it is the legislature's intent and priority that the
valid applications be allowed to stand alone. Even if a reviewing
court finds a provision of this Act invalid in a large or
substantial fraction of relevant cases, the remaining valid
applications shall be severed and allowed to remain in force.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.