By: González of Dallas H.B. No. 4602
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the prosecution of the criminal offense of organized
retail theft.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 31.16(b), Penal Code, is amended to read
as follows:
(b) A person commits an offense if, with the intent to
facilitate the redistribution of retail merchandise, the person
[intentionally] conducts, promotes, or facilitates an activity in
which the person receives, possesses, conceals, stores, barters,
sells, or disposes of:
(1) stolen retail merchandise; or
(2) merchandise explicitly represented to the person
as being stolen retail merchandise.
SECTION 2. 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 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.