| 1 | 1 | | 84R14542 JRR-F |
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| 2 | 2 | | By: Raymond H.B. No. 3797 |
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| 3 | 3 | | |
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| 4 | 4 | | |
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| 5 | 5 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
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| 6 | 6 | | AN ACT |
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| 7 | 7 | | relating to the prosecution of the offense of online solicitation |
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| 8 | 8 | | of a minor. |
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| 9 | 9 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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| 10 | 10 | | SECTION 1. Section 33.021(a), Penal Code, is amended by |
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| 11 | 11 | | adding Subdivisions (1-a) and (1-b) to read as follows: |
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| 12 | 12 | | (1-a) "Patently offensive" has the meaning assigned by |
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| 13 | 13 | | Section 43.21. |
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| 14 | 14 | | (1-b) "Sexual conduct" has the meaning assigned by |
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| 15 | 15 | | Section 43.25. |
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| 16 | 16 | | SECTION 2. Section 33.021(b), Penal Code, is amended to |
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| 17 | 17 | | read as follows: |
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| 18 | 18 | | (b) A person who is 17 years of age or older commits an |
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| 19 | 19 | | offense if, with the intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire |
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| 20 | 20 | | of any person, the person, over the Internet, by electronic mail or |
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| 21 | 21 | | text message or other electronic message service or system, or |
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| 22 | 22 | | through a commercial online service, intentionally: |
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| 23 | 23 | | (1) expresses to [communicates in a sexually explicit |
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| 24 | 24 | | manner with] a minor that the actor intends to engage in sexual |
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| 25 | 25 | | contact, sexual intercourse, or deviate sexual intercourse with the |
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| 26 | 26 | | minor; or |
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| 27 | 27 | | (2) sends [distributes sexually explicit material to] |
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| 28 | 28 | | a minor a communication that: |
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| 29 | 29 | | (A) the average person, applying contemporary |
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| 30 | 30 | | community standards, would find that taken as a whole appeals to a |
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| 31 | 31 | | prurient interest harmful to minors; |
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| 32 | 32 | | (B) depicts or describes patently offensive |
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| 33 | 33 | | representations or descriptions of sexual conduct; and |
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| 34 | 34 | | (C) taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, |
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| 35 | 35 | | artistic, political, and scientific value. |
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| 36 | 36 | | SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only |
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| 37 | 37 | | to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act. |
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| 38 | 38 | | An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is |
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| 39 | 39 | | governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed, |
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| 40 | 40 | | and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For |
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| 41 | 41 | | purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the |
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| 42 | 42 | | effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred |
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| 43 | 43 | | before that date. |
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| 44 | 44 | | SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015. |
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