Bill Text: TX SB129 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Enrolled


Bill Title: Relating to the prosecution and punishment for possession or promotion of child pornography; increasing criminal penalties.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 5-0)

Status: (Passed) 2023-06-18 - Effective on 9/1/23 [SB129 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-SB129-Enrolled.html
 
 
  S.B. No. 129
 
 
 
 
AN ACT
  relating to the prosecution and punishment for possession or
  promotion of child pornography; increasing criminal penalties.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Article 12.01, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
  amended to read as follows:
         Art. 12.01.  FELONIES.  Except as provided in Article 12.03,
  felony indictments may be presented within these limits, and not
  afterward:
               (1)  no limitation:
                     (A)  murder and manslaughter;
                     (B)  sexual assault under Section 22.011(a)(2),
  Penal Code, or aggravated sexual assault under Section
  22.021(a)(1)(B), Penal Code;
                     (C)  sexual assault, if:
                           (i)  during the investigation of the offense
  biological matter is collected and the matter:
                                 (a)  has not yet been subjected to
  forensic DNA testing; or
                                 (b)  has been subjected to forensic DNA
  testing and the testing results show that the matter does not match
  the victim or any other person whose identity is readily
  ascertained; or
                           (ii)  probable cause exists to believe that
  the defendant has committed the same or a similar sex offense
  against five or more victims;
                     (D)  continuous sexual abuse of young child or
  disabled individual under Section 21.02, Penal Code;
                     (E)  indecency with a child under Section 21.11,
  Penal Code;
                     (F)  an offense involving leaving the scene of an
  accident under Section 550.021, Transportation Code, if the
  accident resulted in the death of a person;
                     (G)  trafficking of persons under Section
  20A.02(a)(7) or (8), Penal Code;
                     (H)  continuous trafficking of persons under
  Section 20A.03, Penal Code; or
                     (I)  compelling prostitution under Section
  43.05(a)(2), Penal Code;
               (2)  ten years from the date of the commission of the
  offense:
                     (A)  theft of any estate, real, personal or mixed,
  by an executor, administrator, guardian or trustee, with intent to
  defraud any creditor, heir, legatee, ward, distributee,
  beneficiary or settlor of a trust interested in such estate;
                     (B)  theft by a public servant of government
  property over which the public servant exercises control in the
  public servant's official capacity;
                     (C)  forgery or the uttering, using, or passing of
  forged instruments;
                     (D)  injury to an elderly or disabled individual
  punishable as a felony of the first degree under Section 22.04,
  Penal Code;
                     (E)  sexual assault, except as provided by
  Subdivision (1) or (7);
                     (F)  arson;
                     (G)  trafficking of persons under Section
  20A.02(a)(1), (2), (3), or (4), Penal Code; or
                     (H)  compelling prostitution under Section
  43.05(a)(1), Penal Code;
               (3)  seven years from the date of the commission of the
  offense:
                     (A)  misapplication of fiduciary property or
  property of a financial institution;
                     (B)  fraudulent securing of document execution;
                     (C)  a felony violation under Chapter 162, Tax
  Code;
                     (D)  false statement to obtain property or credit
  under Section 32.32, Penal Code;
                     (E)  money laundering;
                     (F)  credit card or debit card abuse under Section
  32.31, Penal Code;
                     (G)  fraudulent use or possession of identifying
  information under Section 32.51, Penal Code;
                     (H)  exploitation of a child, elderly individual,
  or disabled individual under Section 32.53, Penal Code;
                     (I)  health care fraud under Section 35A.02, Penal
  Code; [or]
                     (J)  bigamy under Section 25.01, Penal Code,
  except as provided by Subdivision (6); or
                     (K)  possession or promotion of child pornography
  under Section 43.26, Penal Code;
               (4)  five years from the date of the commission of the
  offense:
                     (A)  theft or robbery;
                     (B)  except as provided by Subdivision (5),
  kidnapping or burglary;
                     (C)  injury to an elderly or disabled individual
  that is not punishable as a felony of the first degree under Section
  22.04, Penal Code;
                     (D)  abandoning or endangering a child; or
                     (E)  insurance fraud;
               (5)  if the investigation of the offense shows that the
  victim is younger than 17 years of age at the time the offense is
  committed, 20 years from the 18th birthday of the victim of one of
  the following offenses:
                     (A)  sexual performance by a child under Section
  43.25, Penal Code;
                     (B)  aggravated kidnapping under Section
  20.04(a)(4), Penal Code, if the defendant committed the offense
  with the intent to violate or abuse the victim sexually; or
                     (C)  burglary under Section 30.02, Penal Code, if
  the offense is punishable under Subsection (d) of that section and
  the defendant committed the offense with the intent to commit an
  offense described by Subdivision (1)(B) or (D) of this article or
  Paragraph (B) of this subdivision;
               (6)  ten years from the 18th birthday of the victim of
  the offense:
                     (A)  trafficking of persons under Section
  20A.02(a)(5) or (6), Penal Code;
                     (B)  injury to a child under Section 22.04, Penal
  Code; or
                     (C)  bigamy under Section 25.01, Penal Code, if
  the investigation of the offense shows that the person, other than
  the legal spouse of the defendant, whom the defendant marries or
  purports to marry or with whom the defendant lives under the
  appearance of being married is younger than 18 years of age at the
  time the offense is committed;
               (7)  two years from the date the offense was
  discovered: sexual assault punishable as a state jail felony under
  Section 22.011(f)(2), Penal Code; or
               (8)  three years from the date of the commission of the
  offense: all other felonies.
         SECTION 2.  Section 43.26, Penal Code, is amended by
  amending Subsection (d) and adding Subsection (d-1) to read as
  follows:
         (d)  An offense under Subsection (a) is:
               (1)  a felony of the third degree if the person
  possesses visual material that contains fewer than 100 visual
  depictions of a child as described by Subsection (a)(1);
               (2)  [, except that the offense is:
               [(1)] a felony of the second degree if [it is shown on
  the trial of the offense that] the person possesses visual material
  that contains 100 or more visual depictions of a child as described
  by Subsection (a)(1) but fewer than 500 such depictions [has been
  previously convicted one time of an offense under that subsection];
               (3)  [and
               [(2)] a felony of the first degree if [it is shown on the
  trial of the offense that] the person possesses visual material
  that contains 500 or more visual depictions of a child as described
  by Subsection (a)(1); or
               (4)  a felony of the first degree punishable by
  imprisonment in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for life
  or for any term of not more than 99 years or less than 25 years if it
  is shown on the trial of the offense that, at the time of the
  offense, the person was:
                     (A)  an employee at a child-care facility or a
  residential child-care facility, as those terms are defined by
  Section 42.002, Human Resources Code;
                     (B)  an employee at a residential treatment
  facility established under Section 221.056, Human Resources Code;
                     (C)  an employee at a shelter or facility that
  serves youth and that receives state funds; or
                     (D)  receiving state funds for the care of a child
  depicted by the visual material [has been previously convicted two
  or more times of an offense under that subsection].
         (d-1)  If it is shown on the trial of an offense under
  Subsection (a) that the visual material depicted a child younger
  than 10 years of age at the time the image of the child was made or
  that the defendant has been previously convicted of an offense
  under that subsection:
               (1)  an offense described for purposes of punishment by
  Subsection (d)(1) or (2) is increased to the next higher category of
  offense; or
               (2)  the minimum term of confinement for an offense
  described for purposes of punishment by Subsection (d)(3) is
  increased to 15 years.
         SECTION 3.  Article 12.01, Code of Criminal Procedure, as
  amended by this Act, does not apply to an offense if the prosecution
  of that offense becomes barred by limitation before the effective
  date of this Act.  The prosecution of that offense remains barred as
  if this Act had not taken effect.
         SECTION 4.  Section 43.26, Penal Code, as amended 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.  To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails
  over another Act of the 88th Legislature, Regular Session, 2023,
  relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted
  codes.
         SECTION 6.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.
 
 
 
 
 
  ______________________________ ______________________________
     President of the Senate Speaker of the House     
 
         I hereby certify that S.B. No. 129 passed the Senate on
  April 20, 2023, by the following vote:  Yeas 31, Nays 0.
 
 
  ______________________________
  Secretary of the Senate    
 
         I hereby certify that S.B. No. 129 passed the House on
  May 22, 2023, by the following vote:  Yeas 144, Nays 0,
  one present not voting.
 
 
  ______________________________
  Chief Clerk of the House   
 
 
 
  Approved:
 
  ______________________________ 
              Date
 
 
  ______________________________ 
            Governor
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