By: Dutton (Senate Sponsor - Menéndez) H.B. No. 2880
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 8, 2017;
May 10, 2017, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal
Justice; May 19, 2017, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 8, Nays 0; May 19, 2017, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the criminal punishment for the threatened exhibition
or use of a firearm in or on school property or on a school bus.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 37.125, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 37.125. EXHIBITION, USE, OR THREAT OF EXHIBITION OR
USE OF FIREARMS. (a) A person commits an offense if, in a manner
intended to cause alarm or personal injury to another person or to
damage school property, the person intentionally:
(1) exhibits or [,] uses[, or threatens to exhibit or
use] a firearm:
(A) [(1)] in or on any property, including a
parking lot, parking garage, or other parking area, that is owned by
a private or public school; or
(B) [(2)] on a school bus being used to transport
children to or from school-sponsored activities of a private or
public school;
(2) threatens to exhibit or use a firearm in or on
property described by Subdivision (1)(A) or on a bus described by
Subdivision (1)(B) and was in possession of or had immediate access
to the firearm; or
(3) threatens to exhibit or use a firearm in or on
property described by Subdivision (1)(A) or on a bus described by
Subdivision (1)(B).
(b) An offense under Subsection (a)(1) or (2) [this section]
is a third degree felony.
(c) An offense under Subsection (a)(3) is a Class A
misdemeanor.
SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act apply 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 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
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