By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 1828
(Fletcher)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the creation of the offense of cargo theft.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Article 13.08, Code of Criminal
Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
Art. 13.08. THEFT; ORGANIZED RETAIL THEFT; CARGO THEFT.
SECTION 2. Article 13.08(b), Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended to read as follows:
(b) An offense under Section 31.16 or 31.18, Penal Code, may
be prosecuted in any county in which an underlying theft could have
been prosecuted as a separate offense.
SECTION 3. Chapter 31, Penal Code, is amended by adding
Section 31.18 to read as follows:
Sec. 31.18. CARGO THEFT. (a) In this section:
(1) "Cargo" means goods, as defined by Section 7.102,
Business & Commerce Code, that constitute, wholly or partly, a
commercial shipment of freight moving in commerce. A shipment is
considered to be moving in commerce if the shipment is located at
any point between the point of origin and the final point of
destination regardless of any temporary stop that is made for the
purpose of transshipment or otherwise.
(2) "Vehicle" has the meaning assigned by Section
541.201, Transportation Code.
(b) A person commits an offense if the person:
(1) knowingly or intentionally conducts, promotes, or
facilitates an activity in which the person receives, possesses,
conceals, stores, barters, sells, abandons, or disposes of:
(A) stolen cargo; or
(B) cargo explicitly represented to the person as
being stolen cargo; or
(2) is employed as a driver lawfully contracted to
transport a specific cargo by vehicle from a known point of origin
to a known point of destination and, with the intent to conduct,
promote, or facilitate an activity described by Subsection (b)(1),
knowingly or intentionally:
(A) fails to deliver the entire cargo to the
known point of destination as contracted; or
(B) causes the seal to be broken on the vehicle or
on an intermodal container containing any part of the cargo.
(c) An offense under this section is:
(1) a state jail felony if the total value of the cargo
involved in the activity is less than $10,000;
(2) a felony of the third degree if the total value of
the cargo involved in the activity is $10,000 or more but less than
$100,000;
(3) a felony of the second degree if the total value of
the cargo involved in the activity is $100,000 or more but less than
$200,000; or
(4) a felony of the first degree if the total value of
the cargo involved in the activity is $200,000 or more.
(d) For purposes of Subsection (c), the total value of the
cargo involved in the activity includes the value of any vehicle
stolen or damaged in the course of the same criminal episode as the
conduct that is the subject of the prosecution.
(e) An offense described for purposes of punishment by
Subsections (c)(1)-(3) is increased to the next higher category of
offense if it is shown on the trial of the offense that the person
organized, supervised, financed, or managed one or more other
persons engaged in an activity described by Subsection (b).
(f) It is not a defense to prosecution under this section
that:
(1) the offense occurred as a result of a deception or
strategy on the part of a law enforcement agency, including the use
of:
(A) an undercover operative or peace officer; or
(B) a bait vehicle;
(2) the actor was provided by a law enforcement agency
with a facility in which to commit the offense or with an
opportunity to engage in conduct constituting the offense; or
(3) the actor was solicited to commit the offense by a
peace officer, and the solicitation was of a type that would
encourage a person predisposed to commit the offense to actually
commit the offense but would not encourage a person not predisposed
to commit the offense to actually commit the offense.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.