Bill Text: TX SB124 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Relating to the punishment for the offense of tampering with certain governmental records based on certain reporting for school districts and open-enrollment charter schools.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4)

Status: (Passed) 2013-06-14 - Effective on 9/1/13 [SB124 Detail]

Download: Texas-2013-SB124-Enrolled.html

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S.B. No. 124

AN ACT
relating to the punishment for the offense of tampering with
certain governmental records based on certain reporting for school
districts and open-enrollment charter schools.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subdivision (2), Subsection (c), Section 37.10,
Penal Code, is amended to read as follows:
(2) An offense under this section is a felony of the
third degree if it is shown on the trial of the offense that the
governmental record was:
(A) a public school record, report, or assessment
instrument required under Chapter 39, Education Code, data reported
for a school district or open-enrollment charter school to the
Texas Education Agency through the Public Education Information
Management System (PEIMS) described by Section 42.006, Education
Code, under a law or rule requiring that reporting, or [was] a
license, certificate, permit, seal, title, letter of patent, or
similar document issued by government, by another state, or by the
United States, unless the actor's intent is to defraud or harm
another, in which event the offense is a felony of the second
degree;
(B) a written report of a medical, chemical,
toxicological, ballistic, or other expert examination or test
performed on physical evidence for the purpose of determining the
connection or relevance of the evidence to a criminal action; or
(C) a written report of the certification,
inspection, or maintenance record of an instrument, apparatus,
implement, machine, or other similar device used in the course of an
examination or test performed on physical evidence for the purpose
of determining the connection or relevance of the evidence to a
criminal action.
SECTION 2. Subsection (d), Section 39.03, Penal Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(d) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor,
except that an offense is a felony of the third degree if the public
servant acted with the intent to impair the accuracy of data
reported to the Texas Education Agency through the Public Education
Information Management System (PEIMS) described by Section 42.006,
Education Code, under a law requiring that reporting.
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, 2013.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 124 passed the Senate on
April 3, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0; and that
the Senate concurred in House amendment on May 23, 2013, by the
following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 124 passed the House, with
amendment, on May 20, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 145,
Nays 0, one present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor