84R6998 LEH-F
By: Hall S.B. No. 446
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to increased penalties for the offense of trafficking of
persons that involves a child victim or the death of any victim.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 19.03(a), Penal Code, is amended to read
as follows:
(a) A person commits an offense if the person commits murder
as defined under Section 19.02(b)(1) and:
(1) the person murders a peace officer or fireman who
is acting in the lawful discharge of an official duty and who the
person knows is a peace officer or fireman;
(2) the person intentionally commits the murder in the
course of committing or attempting to commit kidnapping, burglary,
robbery, aggravated sexual assault, arson, obstruction or
retaliation, trafficking of persons, or terroristic threat under
Section 22.07(a)(1), (3), (4), (5), or (6);
(3) the person commits the murder for remuneration or
the promise of remuneration or employs another to commit the murder
for remuneration or the promise of remuneration;
(4) the person commits the murder while escaping or
attempting to escape from a penal institution;
(5) the person, while incarcerated in a penal
institution, murders another:
(A) who is employed in the operation of the penal
institution; or
(B) with the intent to establish, maintain, or
participate in a combination or in the profits of a combination;
(6) the person:
(A) while incarcerated for an offense under this
section or Section 19.02, murders another; or
(B) while serving a sentence of life imprisonment
or a term of 99 years for an offense under Section 20.04, 22.021, or
29.03, murders another;
(7) the person murders more than one person:
(A) during the same criminal transaction; or
(B) during different criminal transactions but
the murders are committed pursuant to the same scheme or course of
conduct;
(8) the person murders an individual under 10 years of
age; or
(9) the person murders another person in retaliation
for or on account of the service or status of the other person as a
judge or justice of the supreme court, the court of criminal
appeals, a court of appeals, a district court, a criminal district
court, a constitutional county court, a statutory county court, a
justice court, or a municipal court.
SECTION 2. Section 20A.02, Penal Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsections (b-1) and (b-2) to
read as follows:
(b) An [Except as otherwise provided by this subsection, an]
offense under Subsection (a)(1), (2), (3), or (4) [this section] is
a felony of the second degree.
(b-1) An offense under [this section is a felony of the
first degree if:
[(1) the applicable conduct constitutes an offense
under] Subsection (a)(5), (6), (7), or (8) is a felony of the first
degree punishable by imprisonment in the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice for life or for any term of not more than 99 years
or less than 25 years, regardless of whether the actor knows the age
of the child at the time the actor commits the offense.
(b-2) Notwithstanding Subsection (b) or (b-1), an offense
under this section is a felony of the first degree punishable by
imprisonment in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for life
without parole if [; or
[(2)] the commission of the offense results in the
death of the person who is trafficked.
SECTION 3. Section 2(a), Article 38.37, Code of Criminal
Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
(a) Subsection (b) applies only to the trial of a defendant
for:
(1) an offense under any of the following provisions
of the Penal Code:
(A) Section 20A.02(a)(7) or (8) [20A.02, if
punishable as a felony of the first degree under Section
20A.02(b)(1)] (Sex Trafficking of a Child);
(B) Section 21.02 (Continuous Sexual Abuse of
Young Child or Children);
(C) Section 21.11 (Indecency With a Child);
(D) Section 22.011(a)(2) (Sexual Assault of a
Child);
(E) Sections 22.021(a)(1)(B) and (2) (Aggravated
Sexual Assault of a Child);
(F) Section 33.021 (Online Solicitation of a
Minor);
(G) Section 43.25 (Sexual Performance by a
Child); or
(H) Section 43.26 (Possession or Promotion of
Child Pornography)[, Penal Code]; or
(2) an attempt or conspiracy to commit an offense
described by Subdivision (1).
SECTION 4. 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 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.