By: Krause, Sherman, Sr., Ramos H.B. No. 1757
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to recordings of peace officer performance of official
duties and interactions with the public; creating a criminal
offense.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 37.09(c) and (d), Penal Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(c) An offense under Subsection (a), [or Subsection]
(d)(1), or (d)(3) is a felony of the third degree, unless the thing
altered, destroyed, or concealed is a human corpse, in which case
the offense is a felony of the second degree. An offense under
Subsection (d)(2) is a Class A misdemeanor.
(d) A person commits an offense if the person:
(1) knowing that an offense has been committed,
alters, destroys, or conceals any record, document, or thing with
intent to impair its verity, legibility, or availability as
evidence in any subsequent investigation of or official proceeding
related to the offense; [or]
(2) observes a human corpse under circumstances in
which a reasonable person would believe that an offense had been
committed, knows or reasonably should know that a law enforcement
agency is not aware of the existence of or location of the corpse,
and fails to report the existence of and location of the corpse to a
law enforcement agency; or
(3) is a peace officer or other employee of a law
enforcement agency who alters, destroys, or conceals another
person's audio, visual, or photographic recording of a peace
officer's performance of official duties:
(A) without obtaining that other person's
written consent; and
(B) with intent to impair the recording's verity,
intelligibility, or availability as evidence in any subsequent
investigation of or official proceeding related to the peace
officer's performance of official duties.
SECTION 2. Section 38.15(c), Penal Code, is amended to read
as follows:
(c) It is a defense to prosecution under Subsection (a)(1)
that the conduct engaged in by the defendant:
(1) was intended to warn a person operating a motor
vehicle of the presence of a peace officer who was enforcing
Subtitle C, Title 7, Transportation Code; or
(2) consisted only of filming, recording,
photographing, documenting, or observing a peace officer, if before
or while engaging in the conduct, the defendant obeyed any
reasonable and lawful order by a peace officer to change the
defendant's proximity or position.
SECTION 3. Section 542.501, Transportation Code, is amended
to read as follows:
Sec. 542.501. OBEDIENCE REQUIRED TO PEACE [POLICE]
OFFICERS, SCHOOL CROSSING GUARDS, AND ESCORT FLAGGERS. (a) A
person may not wilfully fail or refuse to comply with a lawful order
or direction of:
(1) a peace [police] officer, subject to Subsection
(b);
(2) a school crossing guard who:
(A) is performing crossing guard duties in a
school crosswalk to stop and yield to a pedestrian; or
(B) has been trained under Section 600.004 and is
directing traffic in a school crossing zone; or
(3) an escort flagger who is directing or controlling
the flow of traffic in accordance with a permit issued by the Texas
Department of Motor Vehicles under Subtitle E for the movement of an
oversize or overweight vehicle.
(b) Subsection (a)(1) does not apply to an order or
direction to cease filming, recording, photographing, documenting,
or observing a peace officer while the officer is engaged in the
performance of official duties. This subsection does not prohibit a
peace officer from giving the person a reasonable and lawful order
or direction to change the person's proximity or position relative
to a peace officer who is engaged in the performance of official
duties.
SECTION 4. Section 37.09, Penal Code, as amended 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. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
section, Section 38.15, Penal Code, and Section 542.501,
Transportation Code, as amended by this Act, apply to the
prosecution of an offense under one of those sections commenced
before, on, or after the effective date of this Act.
(b) A final conviction for an offense under Section 38.15,
Penal Code, or Section 542.501, Transportation Code, that exists on
the effective date of this Act is unaffected by this Act.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.