86R12655 JRR-F
By: Creighton S.B. No. 2319
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the prosecution of criminal offenses involving the
trafficking of persons.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article 13.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended to read as follows:
Art. 13.12. TRAFFICKING OF PERSONS, FALSE IMPRISONMENT,
KIDNAPPING, AND SMUGGLING OF PERSONS. (a) Venue for trafficking
of persons, false imprisonment, kidnapping, and smuggling of
persons is in:
(1) the county in which the offense was committed; or
(2) any county through, into, or out of which the
person trafficked, falsely imprisoned, kidnapped, or transported
may have been taken.
(b) If a defendant commits an offense under Chapter 20A,
Penal Code, that is part of a criminal episode, as defined by
Section 3.01, Penal Code, all of the offenses arising out of the
same criminal episode may be prosecuted in any county in which any
offense in the criminal episode was committed.
SECTION 2. Chapter 20A, Penal Code, is amended by adding
Section 20A.015 to read as follows:
Sec. 20A.015. PROSECUTION BY ATTORNEY GENERAL AUTHORIZED.
(a) The attorney general may prosecute an offense under this
chapter and any other offense arising out of the same criminal
episode, as defined by Section 3.01.
(b) The attorney general may appear before a grand jury in
connection with an offense the attorney general is authorized to
prosecute under this section.
(c) The authority to prosecute prescribed by this section
does not affect the authority derived from other law to prosecute
the same offenses.
SECTION 3. Article 13.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, as
amended by this Act, and Section 20A.015, Penal Code, as added by
this Act, apply only to the prosecution of an offense committed on
or after the effective date of this Act. The prosecution of 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 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.