By: Wu H.B. No. 3017
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to criminal liability for reporting false information to
draw an emergency response; creating an offense.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 22, Penal Code, is amended by adding
Section 22.13 to read as follows:
Sec. 22.14 SWATTING. (a) A person commits an offense if
the person reports a crime or an emergency or causes any report of a
crime or an emergency to be made to a law enforcement officer, law
enforcement agency, 9-1-1 service, official or volunteer agency, or
any other governmental employee or contractor who is authorized to
receive reports of a crime or emergency and:
(1) the person knows that the report is false;
(2) the report is reasonably likely to cause an
emergency response from a law enforcement agency or other emergency
responder; and,
(3) the person makes the report or causes the report to
be made with reckless disregard about whether the emergency
response by a law enforcement agency or other emergency responder
may directly result in bodily harm to any individual.
(b) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor,
except that:
(1) the offense is a State Jail Felony if it is shown
on the trial of the offense that the defendant has been previously
convicted on two or more occasions of an offense under this section;
or
(2) the offense is a felony of the third degree if the
false report results in an emergency response to a reported crime
and a person is killed or suffers serious bodily injury as a
proximate result of lawful conduct arising out of that response.
(c) A court may order a defendant convicted of an offense
under this section to make restitution to a public agency for the
reasonable costs of the emergency response by that public agency
resulting from the false report.
(d) If in the trial of an offense under this section, an
affirmative finding is made that the offense was committed because
of bias or prejudice, under Article 42.014, Code of Criminal
Procedure, the punishment for the offense is increased as provided
under Section 12.47.
(e) It is not a defense to prosecution under this section
that no physical harm occurred to any person as a result of the
false report, or that any harm that occurred was to physical
property rather than injury to a person.
(f) Nothing in this section shall be construed in any manner
to:
(1) conflict with 47 U.S.C. § 230 of the Communication
Decency Act; or,
(2) conflict with 42 U.S.C. § 1983 of the Civil Rights
Act.
(g) If conduct constituting an offense under this section
also constitutes an offense under another section of this code, the
actor may be prosecuted under either section or both sections.
SECTION 2. Chapter 13, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Article 13.40 to read as follows:
Art. 13.40. SWATTING. The offense of swatting may be
prosecuted in any county in which:
(1) the defendant resides;
(2) the false report was communicated; or
(3) a law enforcement agency responded to the false
report.
SECTION 3. Section 51.03(b), Family Code, is amended by to
read as follows:
(b) Conduct indicating a need for supervision is:
(1) subject to Subsection (f), conduct, other than a
traffic offense, that violates:
(A) the penal laws of this state of the grade of
misdemeanor that are punishable by fine only; or
(B) the penal ordinances of any political
subdivision of this state;
(2) the voluntary absence of a child from the child's
home without the consent of the child's parent or guardian for a
substantial length of time or without intent to return;
(3) conduct prohibited by city ordinance or by state
law involving the inhalation of the fumes or vapors of paint and
other protective coatings or glue and other adhesives and the
volatile chemicals itemized in Section 485.001, Health and Safety
Code;
(4) an act that violates a school district's
previously communicated written standards of student conduct for
which the child has been expelled under Section 37.007(c),
Education Code;
(5) notwithstanding Subsection (a)(1), conduct
described by Section 43.02(a) or (b), Penal Code; [or]
(6) notwithstanding Subsection (a)(1), conduct that
violates Section 43.261, Penal Code; or
(7) notwithstanding Subsection (a)(1), conduct that
violates Section 22.14, Penal Code, if the child has not been
previously adjudicated for conduct in violation of that section.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.