| 3 | 3 | | |
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| 4 | 4 | | |
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| 5 | 5 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
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| 6 | 6 | | AN ACT |
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| 7 | 7 | | relating to the punishment for the criminal offense of tampering |
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| 8 | 8 | | with or fabricating physical evidence. |
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| 9 | 9 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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| 10 | 10 | | SECTION 1. Section 37.09, Penal Code, is amended by |
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| 11 | 11 | | amending Subsections (c) and (c-1) and adding Subsection (c-2) to |
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| 12 | 12 | | read as follows: |
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| 13 | 13 | | (c) An offense under Subsection (a) or Subsection (d)(1) is |
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| 14 | 14 | | a felony of the third degree, except that the offense is: |
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| 15 | 15 | | (1) a felony of the second degree if [unless] the thing |
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| 16 | 16 | | altered, destroyed, or concealed is a human corpse; and |
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| 17 | 17 | | (2) a Class A misdemeanor if the thing altered, |
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| 18 | 18 | | destroyed, or concealed could be used as evidence in the |
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| 19 | 19 | | investigation only of or an official proceeding related to only an |
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| 20 | 20 | | offense punishable as a misdemeanor[, in which case the offense is a |
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| 21 | 21 | | felony of the second degree]. |
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| 22 | 22 | | (c-1) An offense under Subsection (d)(2) is a Class A |
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| 23 | 23 | | misdemeanor. |
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| 24 | 24 | | (c-2) [(c-1)] It is a defense to prosecution under |
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| 25 | 25 | | Subsection (a) or (d)(1) that the record, document, or thing was |
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| 26 | 26 | | visual material prohibited under Section 43.261 that was destroyed |
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| 27 | 27 | | as described by Subsection (f)(3) [(f)(3)(B)] of that section. |
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| 28 | 28 | | SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only |
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| 29 | 29 | | to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act. |
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| 30 | 30 | | An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is |
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| 31 | 31 | | governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed, |
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| 32 | 32 | | and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For |
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| 33 | 33 | | purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the |
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| 34 | 34 | | effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred |
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| 35 | 35 | | before that date. |
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| 36 | 36 | | SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021. |
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