Bill Text: TX SB825 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Relating to the prosecution of the offense of prostitution.

Sponsorship: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-1)

Status: (Passed) 2015-06-20 - Effective on 9/1/15 [SB825 Detail]

Download: Texas-2015-SB825-Enrolled.html

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S.B. No. 825

AN ACT
relating to the prosecution of the offense of prostitution.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 43.02, Penal Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a), (b), (c), and (d) and adding Subsections
(b-1) and (c-1) to read as follows:
(a) A person commits an offense if, in return for receipt of
a fee, the person knowingly:
(1) offers to engage, agrees to engage, or engages in
sexual conduct [for a fee]; or
(2) solicits another in a public place to engage with
the actor [person] in sexual conduct for hire.
(b) A person commits an offense if, based on the payment of a
fee by the actor or another person on behalf of the actor, the
person knowingly:
(1) offers to engage, agrees to engage, or engages in
sexual conduct; or
(2) solicits another in a public place to engage with
the actor in sexual conduct for hire.
(b-1) An offense is established under Subsection (a)
regardless of [(a)(1)] whether the actor is offered or actually
receives the [is to receive or pay a] fee. An offense is
established under Subsection (b) regardless of [(a)(2)] whether the
actor or another person on behalf of the actor offers or actually
pays the fee [solicits a person to hire the actor or offers to hire
the person solicited].
(c) An offense under Subsection (a) [this section] is a
Class B misdemeanor, except that the offense is:
(1) a Class A misdemeanor if the actor has previously
been convicted one or two times of an offense under Subsection (a)
[this section]; or
(2) a state jail felony if the actor has previously
been convicted three or more times of an offense under Subsection
(a).
(c-1) An offense under Subsection (b) is a Class B
misdemeanor, except that the offense is:
(1) a Class A misdemeanor if the actor has previously
been convicted one or two times of an offense under Subsection (b);
(2) a state jail felony if the actor has previously
been convicted three or more times of an offense under Subsection
(b) [this section]; or
(3) a felony of the second degree if the person
solicited is younger than 18 years of age, regardless of whether the
actor knows the age of the person solicited at the time the actor
commits the offense.
(d) It is a defense to prosecution for an offense under
Subsection (a) [under this section] that the actor engaged in the
conduct that constitutes the offense because the actor was the
victim of conduct that constitutes an offense under Section 20A.02
or 43.05.
SECTION 2. Section 43.05, Penal Code, is amended by adding
Subsection (c) to read as follows:
(c) If conduct constituting an offense under this section
also constitutes an offense under another section of this code, the
actor may be prosecuted under either section or under both
sections.
SECTION 3. Section 51.03(b), Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(b) Conduct indicating a need for supervision is:
(1) subject to Subsection (f), conduct, other than a
traffic offense, that violates:
(A) the penal laws of this state of the grade of
misdemeanor that are punishable by fine only; or
(B) the penal ordinances of any political
subdivision of this state;
(2) the absence of a child on 10 or more days or parts
of days within a six-month period in the same school year or on
three or more days or parts of days within a four-week period from
school;
(3) the voluntary absence of a child from the child's
home without the consent of the child's parent or guardian for a
substantial length of time or without intent to return;
(4) conduct prohibited by city ordinance or by state
law involving the inhalation of the fumes or vapors of paint and
other protective coatings or glue and other adhesives and the
volatile chemicals itemized in Section 485.001, Health and Safety
Code;
(5) an act that violates a school district's
previously communicated written standards of student conduct for
which the child has been expelled under Section 37.007(c),
Education Code;
(6) conduct that violates a reasonable and lawful
order of a court entered under Section 264.305;
(7) notwithstanding Subsection (a)(1), conduct
described by Section 43.02(a) or (b) [43.02(a)(1) or (2)], Penal
Code; or
(8) notwithstanding Subsection (a)(1), conduct that
violates Section 43.261, Penal Code.
SECTION 4. Section 261.001(1), Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(1) "Abuse" includes the following acts or omissions
by a person:
(A) mental or emotional injury to a child that
results in an observable and material impairment in the child's
growth, development, or psychological functioning;
(B) causing or permitting the child to be in a
situation in which the child sustains a mental or emotional injury
that results in an observable and material impairment in the
child's growth, development, or psychological functioning;
(C) physical injury that results in substantial
harm to the child, or the genuine threat of substantial harm from
physical injury to the child, including an injury that is at
variance with the history or explanation given and excluding an
accident or reasonable discipline by a parent, guardian, or
managing or possessory conservator that does not expose the child
to a substantial risk of harm;
(D) failure to make a reasonable effort to
prevent an action by another person that results in physical injury
that results in substantial harm to the child;
(E) sexual conduct harmful to a child's mental,
emotional, or physical welfare, including conduct that constitutes
the offense of continuous sexual abuse of young child or children
under Section 21.02, Penal Code, indecency with a child under
Section 21.11, Penal Code, sexual assault under Section 22.011,
Penal Code, or aggravated sexual assault under Section 22.021,
Penal Code;
(F) failure to make a reasonable effort to
prevent sexual conduct harmful to a child;
(G) compelling or encouraging the child to engage
in sexual conduct as defined by Section 43.01, Penal Code,
including compelling or encouraging the child in a manner [conduct]
that constitutes an offense of trafficking of persons under Section
20A.02(a)(7) or (8), Penal Code, prostitution under Section
43.02(b) [43.02(a)(2)], Penal Code, or compelling prostitution
under Section 43.05(a)(2), Penal Code;
(H) causing, permitting, encouraging, engaging
in, or allowing the photographing, filming, or depicting of the
child if the person knew or should have known that the resulting
photograph, film, or depiction of the child is obscene as defined by
Section 43.21, Penal Code, or pornographic;
(I) the current use by a person of a controlled
substance as defined by Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code, in a
manner or to the extent that the use results in physical, mental, or
emotional injury to a child;
(J) causing, expressly permitting, or
encouraging a child to use a controlled substance as defined by
Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code;
(K) causing, permitting, encouraging, engaging
in, or allowing a sexual performance by a child as defined by
Section 43.25, Penal Code; or
(L) knowingly causing, permitting, encouraging,
engaging in, or allowing a child to be trafficked in a manner
punishable as an offense under Section 20A.02(a)(5), (6), (7), or
(8), Penal Code, or the failure to make a reasonable effort to
prevent a child from being trafficked in a manner punishable as an
offense under any of those sections.
SECTION 5. Section 169.002(a), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) The commissioners court of a county or governing body of
a municipality may establish a first offender prostitution
prevention program for defendants charged with an offense under
Section 43.02(b) [43.02(a)(2)], Penal Code[, in which the defendant
offered or agreed to hire a person to engage in sexual conduct].
SECTION 6. Section 169A.002(a), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) The commissioners court of a county or governing body of
a municipality may establish a prostitution prevention program for
defendants charged with an offense under Section 43.02(a)
[43.02(a)(1)], Penal Code[, in which the defendant offered or
agreed to engage in or engaged in sexual conduct for a fee].
SECTION 7. The changes in law made by this Act to Section
43.02, Penal Code, apply 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 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 825 passed the Senate on
March 30, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0; and that
the Senate concurred in House amendment on May 30, 2015, by the
following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 825 passed the House, with
amendment, on May 27, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 144,
Nays 0, two present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor