Texas 2011 - 82nd Regular

Texas House Bill HB2482 Compare Versions

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1	1	By: Pena, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Williams) H.B. No. 2482
2	2	(In the Senate - Received from the House April 28, 2011;
3	3	April 28, 2011, read first time and referred to Committee on
4	4	Criminal Justice; May 12, 2011, reported favorably by the
5	5	following vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 12, 2011, sent to printer.)
6	6
7	7
8	8	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
9	9	AN ACT
10	10	relating to the prosecution of and punishment for certain offenses
11	11	involving theft.
12	12	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
13	13	SECTION 1. Section 31.01, Penal Code, is amended by adding
14	14	Subdivisions (11) through (14) to read as follows:
15	15	(11) "Retail merchandise" means one or more items of
16	16	tangible personal property displayed, held, stored, or offered for
17	17	sale in a retail establishment.
18	18	(12) "Retail theft detector" means an electrical,
19	19	mechanical, electronic, or magnetic device used to prevent or
20	20	detect shoplifting and includes any article or component part
21	21	essential to the proper operation of the device.
22	22	(13) "Shielding or deactivation instrument" means any
23	23	item or tool designed, made, or adapted for the purpose of
24	24	preventing the detection of stolen merchandise by a retail theft
25	25	detector. The term includes a metal-lined or foil-lined shopping
26	26	bag and any item used to remove a security tag affixed to retail
27	27	merchandise.
28	28	(14) "Fire exit alarm" has the meaning assigned by
29	29	Section 793.001, Health and Safety Code.
30	30	SECTION 2. Section 31.03(f), Penal Code, is amended to read
31	31	as follows:
32	32	(f) An offense described for purposes of punishment by
33	33	Subsections (e)(1)-(6) is increased to the next higher category of
34	34	offense if it is shown on the trial of the offense that:
35	35	(1) the actor was a public servant at the time of the
36	36	offense and the property appropriated came into the actor's
37	37	custody, possession, or control by virtue of his status as a public
38	38	servant;
39	39	(2) the actor was in a contractual relationship with
40	40	government at the time of the offense and the property appropriated
41	41	came into the actor's custody, possession, or control by virtue of
42	42	the contractual relationship;
43	43	(3) the owner of the property appropriated was at the
44	44	time of the offense:
45	45	(A) an elderly individual; or
46	46	(B) a nonprofit organization; [or]
47	47	(4) the actor was a Medicare provider in a contractual
48	48	relationship with the federal government at the time of the offense
49	49	and the property appropriated came into the actor's custody,
50	50	possession, or control by virtue of the contractual relationship;
51	51	or
52	52	(5) during the commission of the offense, the actor
53	53	intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly:
54	54	(A) caused a fire exit alarm to sound or
55	55	otherwise become activated;
56	56	(B) deactivated or otherwise prevented a fire
57	57	exit alarm or retail theft detector from sounding; or
58	58	(C) used a shielding or deactivation instrument
59	59	to prevent or attempt to prevent detection of the offense by a
60	60	retail theft detector.
61	61	SECTION 3. Sections 31.16(b), (c), and (d), Penal Code, are
62	62	amended to read as follows:
63	63	(b) A person commits an offense if the person intentionally
64	64	conducts, promotes, or facilitates an activity in which the person
65	65	receives, possesses, conceals, stores, barters, sells, or disposes
66	66	of [a total value of not less than $1,500 of]:
67	67	(1) stolen retail merchandise; or
68	68	(2) merchandise explicitly represented to the person
69	69	as being stolen retail merchandise.
70	70	(c) An offense under this section is:
71	71	(1) a Class B misdemeanor if the total value of the
72	72	merchandise involved in the activity is less than $50;
73	73	(2) a Class A misdemeanor if the total value of the
74	74	merchandise involved in the activity is $50 or more but less than
75	75	$500;
76	76	(3) a state jail felony if the total value of the
77	77	merchandise involved in the activity is $500 [$1,500] or more but
78	78	less than $1,500 [$20,000];
79	79	(4) [(2)] a felony of the third degree if the total
80	80	value of the merchandise involved in the activity is $1,500
81	81	[$20,000] or more but less than $20,000 [$100,000];
82	82	(5) [(3)] a felony of the second degree if the total
83	83	value of the merchandise involved in the activity is $20,000
84	84	[$100,000] or more but less than $100,000 [$200,000]; or
85	85	(6) [(4)] a felony of the first degree if the total
86	86	value of the merchandise involved in the activity is $100,000
87	87	[$200,000] or more.
88	88	(d) An offense described for purposes of punishment by
89	89	Subsections (c)(1)-(5) [(c)(1)-(3)] is increased to the next higher
90	90	category of offense if it is shown on the trial of the offense that:
91	91	(1) the person organized, supervised, financed, or
92	92	managed one or more other persons engaged in an activity described
93	93	by Subsection (b); or
94	94	(2) during the commission of the offense, a person
95	95	engaged in an activity described by Subsection (b) intentionally,
96	96	knowingly, or recklessly:
97	97	(A) caused a fire exit alarm to sound or
98	98	otherwise become activated;
99	99	(B) deactivated or otherwise prevented a fire
100	100	exit alarm or retail theft detector from sounding; or
101	101	(C) used a shielding or deactivation instrument
102	102	to prevent or attempt to prevent detection of the offense by a
103	103	retail theft detector.
104	104	SECTION 4. Sections 31.15(a) and 31.16(a) and (e), Penal
105	105	Code, are repealed.
106	106	SECTION 5. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
107	107	an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act. An
108	108	offense committed before the effective date of this Act is governed
109	109	by the law in effect when the offense was committed, and the former
110	110	law is continued in effect for that purpose. For purposes of this
111	111	section, an offense was committed before the effective date of this
112	112	Act if any element of the offense occurred before that date.
113	113	SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.
114	114	* * * * *