By: Shine, González of Dallas H.B. No. 624
(Senate Sponsor - Campbell)
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 3, 2021;
May 10, 2021, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal
Justice; May 22, 2021, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 22, 2021, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to increasing the criminal penalty for certain offenses
committed in retaliation for or on account of a person's service or
status as a public servant.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 12, Penal Code, is amended
by adding Section 12.501 to read as follows:
Sec. 12.501. PENALTY FOR CERTAIN OFFENSES COMMITTED IN
RETALIATION FOR OR ON ACCOUNT OF PERSON'S SERVICE OR STATUS AS
PUBLIC SERVANT. (a) In this section, "public servant" has the
meaning assigned by Section 36.06.
(b) Subject to Subsection (d), the punishment for an offense
described by Subsection (c) is increased to the punishment
prescribed for the next higher category of offense if it is shown on
the trial of the offense that:
(1) the offense:
(A) was committed against a person the actor
knows is a public servant or a member of a public servant's family
or household; or
(B) involves property that the actor knows
belongs to, is under the control of, or is lawfully possessed by a
public servant; and
(2) the offense was committed in retaliation for or on
account of the service or status of the person as a public servant.
(c) The increase in punishment authorized by this section
applies only to:
(1) an offense under Section 21.16, 21.18, 21.19,
22.011, 28.02, 28.03, 30.05, 33.02, 42.07, or 42.072; or
(2) an offense under Section 32.51, other than an
offense punishable under Subsection (c-1) of that section.
(d) If an offense described by Subsection (c) is punishable
as a Class A misdemeanor, the minimum term of confinement for the
offense is increased to 180 days. If an offense described by
Subsection (c) is punishable as a felony of the first degree, the
punishment for that offense may not be increased under this
section.
(e) For purposes of this section, "member of a public
servant's family" means a person related to the public servant
within the second degree of consanguinity.
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, 2021.
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