Bill Text: TX SB967 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to the prosecution of the offenses of sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-03-01 - Referred to Criminal Justice [SB967 Detail]

Download: Texas-2017-SB967-Introduced.html

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85R6686 KJE-F
By: Watson S.B. No. 967

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the prosecution of the offenses of sexual assault and
aggravated sexual assault.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 22.011, Penal Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (e-1) to read as
follows:
(b) A sexual assault under Subsection (a)(1) is without the
consent of the other person if:
(1) the actor compels the other person to submit or
participate by the use of physical force or violence;
(2) the actor compels the other person to submit or
participate by threatening to use force or violence against the
other person, and the other person believes that the actor has the
present ability to execute the threat;
(3) the other person has not consented and the actor
knows the other person is:
(A) unconscious;
(B) [or] physically unable to resist;
(C) incapable of appraising the nature of the
act; or
(D) unaware that the sexual assault is occurring;
(4) the actor knows that as a result of mental disease
or defect the other person is at the time of the sexual assault
incapable either of appraising the nature of the act or of resisting
it;
(5) [the other person has not consented and the actor
knows the other person is unaware that the sexual assault is
occurring;
[(6) the actor has intentionally impaired the other
person's power to appraise or control the other person's conduct by
administering any substance without the other person's knowledge;
[(7)] the actor compels the other person to submit or
participate by threatening to use force or violence against any
person, and the other person believes that the actor has the ability
to execute the threat;
(6) [(8)] the actor is a public servant who coerces
the other person to submit or participate;
(7) [(9)] the actor is a mental health services
provider or a health care services provider who causes the other
person, who is a patient or former patient of the actor, to submit
or participate by exploiting the other person's emotional
dependency on the actor;
(8) [(10)] the actor is a clergyman who causes the
other person to submit or participate by exploiting the other
person's emotional dependency on the clergyman in the clergyman's
professional character as spiritual adviser; [or]
(9) [(11)] the actor is an employee of a facility
where the other person is a resident, unless the employee and
resident are formally or informally married to each other under
Chapter 2, Family Code; or
(10) the actor knows that the other person has
withdrawn consent to the act and the actor persists in the act after
consent is withdrawn.
(e-1) It is not a defense to prosecution under this section
that the actor mistakenly believed that the other person consented
to the conduct if a reasonable person should have known or
understood that the other person did not consent to the conduct.
SECTION 2. Section 22.011(c), Penal Code, is amended by
adding Subdivision (6) to read as follows:
(6) Notwithstanding Section 1.07, "consent" means
express consent demonstrated through words or actions indicating an
active and voluntary agreement to participate in an act.
SECTION 3. Section 22.021, Penal Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (d-1) to read as
follows:
(a) A person commits an offense:
(1) if the person:
(A) intentionally or knowingly:
(i) causes the penetration of the anus or
sexual organ of another person by any means, without that person's
consent;
(ii) causes the penetration of the mouth of
another person by the sexual organ of the actor, without that
person's consent; or
(iii) causes the sexual organ of another
person, without that person's consent, to contact or penetrate the
mouth, anus, or sexual organ of another person, including the
actor; or
(B) intentionally or knowingly:
(i) causes the penetration of the anus or
sexual organ of a child by any means;
(ii) causes the penetration of the mouth of
a child by the sexual organ of the actor;
(iii) causes the sexual organ of a child to
contact or penetrate the mouth, anus, or sexual organ of another
person, including the actor;
(iv) causes the anus of a child to contact
the mouth, anus, or sexual organ of another person, including the
actor; or
(v) causes the mouth of a child to contact
the anus or sexual organ of another person, including the actor; and
(2) if:
(A) the person:
(i) causes serious bodily injury or
attempts to cause the death of the victim or another person in the
course of the same criminal episode;
(ii) by acts or words places the victim in
fear that any person will become the victim of an offense under
Section 20A.02(a)(3), (4), (7), or (8) or that death, serious
bodily injury, or kidnapping will be imminently inflicted on any
person;
(iii) by acts or words occurring in the
presence of the victim threatens to cause any person to become the
victim of an offense under Section 20A.02(a)(3), (4), (7), or (8) or
to cause the death, serious bodily injury, or kidnapping of any
person;
(iv) uses or exhibits a deadly weapon in the
course of the same criminal episode;
(v) acts in concert with another who
engages in conduct described by Subdivision (1) directed toward the
same victim and occurring during the course of the same criminal
episode; or
(vi) with the intent of facilitating the
commission of the offense, administers or provides [flunitrazepam,
otherwise known as rohypnol, gamma hydroxybutyrate, or ketamine] to
the victim of the offense any substance capable of impairing the
victim's ability to appraise the nature of the act or to resist the
act [with the intent of facilitating the commission of the
offense];
(B) the victim is younger than 14 years of age; or
(C) the victim is an elderly individual or a
disabled individual.
(d-1) It is not a defense to prosecution under this section
that the actor mistakenly believed that the other person consented
to the conduct if a reasonable person should have known or
understood that the other person did not consent to the conduct.
SECTION 4. Section 22.021(b), Penal Code, is amended by
adding Subdivision (4) to read as follows:
(4) Notwithstanding Section 1.07, "consent" has the
meaning assigned by Section 22.011.
SECTION 5. 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 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.