| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to the prosecution and punishment of the criminal offense |
|
|
of harassment; creating a criminal offense. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Sections 42.07(a) and (c), Penal Code, are |
|
|
amended to read as follows: |
|
|
(a) A person commits an offense if, with intent to harass, |
|
|
annoy, alarm, abuse, torment, or embarrass another, the person: |
|
|
(1) initiates communication and in the course of the |
|
|
communication makes a comment, request, suggestion, or proposal |
|
|
that is obscene; |
|
|
(2) threatens, in a manner reasonably likely to alarm |
|
|
the person receiving the threat, to inflict bodily injury on the |
|
|
person or to commit a felony against the person, a member of the |
|
|
person's family or household, or the person's property; |
|
|
(3) conveys, in a manner reasonably likely to alarm |
|
|
the person receiving the report, a false report, which is known by |
|
|
the conveyor to be false, that another person has suffered death or |
|
|
serious bodily injury; |
|
|
(4) causes the telephone of another to ring repeatedly |
|
|
or makes repeated telephone communications anonymously or in a |
|
|
manner reasonably likely to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment, |
|
|
embarrass, or offend another; |
|
|
(5) makes a telephone call and intentionally fails to |
|
|
hang up or disengage the connection; |
|
|
(6) knowingly permits a telephone under the person's |
|
|
control to be used by another to commit an offense under this |
|
|
section; [or] |
|
|
(7) sends repeated electronic communications in a |
|
|
manner reasonably likely to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment, |
|
|
embarrass, or offend another; or |
|
|
(8) publishes on an Internet website, including a |
|
|
social media platform, repeated electronic communications in a |
|
|
manner reasonably likely to abuse or torment or cause emotional |
|
|
distress to another person, unless the communications are made in |
|
|
connection with a matter of public concern. |
|
|
(c) An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor, |
|
|
except that the offense is a Class A misdemeanor if: |
|
|
(1) the actor has previously been convicted under this |
|
|
section; or |
|
|
(2) the offense was committed under Subsection (a)(7) |
|
|
or (8) and: |
|
|
(A) the offense was committed against a child |
|
|
under 18 years of age with the intent that the child: |
|
|
(i) commit suicide; or |
|
|
(ii) engage in conduct causing serious |
|
|
bodily injury to the child; or |
|
|
(B) the actor has previously violated a temporary |
|
|
restraining order or injunction issued under Chapter 129A, Civil |
|
|
Practice and Remedies Code. |
|
|
SECTION 2. Section 42.07(b), Penal Code, is amended by |
|
|
adding Subdivision (2-a) to read as follows: |
|
|
(2-a) "Matter of public concern" has the meaning |
|
|
assigned by Section 27.001, Civil Practice and Remedies Code. |
|
|
SECTION 3. Section 37.0151(a), Education Code, is amended |
|
|
to read as follows: |
|
|
(a) The principal of a public primary or secondary school, |
|
|
or a person designated by the principal under Subsection (c), may |
|
|
make a report to any school district police department, if |
|
|
applicable, or the police department of the municipality in which |
|
|
the school is located or, if the school is not in a municipality, |
|
|
the sheriff of the county in which the school is located if, after |
|
|
an investigation is completed, the principal has reasonable grounds |
|
|
to believe that a student engaged in conduct that constitutes an |
|
|
offense under Section 22.01 or 42.07(a)(7) or (8), Penal Code. |
|
|
SECTION 4. 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 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021. |