By: Garcia S.B. No. 2238
(In the Senate - Filed March 10, 2017; March 29, 2017, read
first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
April 27, 2017, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0; April 27, 2017,
sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 2238 By: Whitmire
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the creation of the offense of sexual coercion.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 21, Penal Code, is amended by adding
Section 21.18 to read as follows:
Sec. 21.18. SEXUAL COERCION. (a) In this section:
(1) "Intimate visual material" means the visual
material described by Section 21.16(b)(1) or (c), as added by
Chapter 852 (S.B. 1135), Acts of the 84th Legislature, Regular
Session, 2015.
(2) "Sexual conduct" has the meaning assigned by
Section 43.25.
(b) A person commits an offense if:
(1) with the intent to coerce another person either to
engage in sexual conduct or to produce, provide, or distribute
intimate visual material, the actor communicates a threat:
(A) against the other person's person, property,
or reputation; or
(B) to distribute or cause distribution of
intimate visual material of the other person; or
(2) the actor knowingly causes another person to
engage in sexual conduct or to produce, provide, or distribute
intimate visual material, by means of a threat:
(A) against the other person's person, property,
or reputation; or
(B) to distribute or cause distribution of
intimate visual material of the other person.
(c) This section applies to a threat regardless of how that
threat is communicated, including a threat transmitted through
e-mail or an Internet website, social media account, or chat room
and a threat made by other electronic or technological means.
(d) An offense under this section is a state jail felony,
except that the offense is a felony of the third degree if:
(1) it is shown on the trial of the offense that the
defendant has previously been convicted of an offense under this
section; or
(2) the victim was younger than 18 years of age at the
time of the offense.
(e) If conduct that constitutes an offense under this
section also constitutes an offense under any other law, the actor
may be prosecuted under this section, the other law, or both.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
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