Texas 2021 87th Regular

Texas House Bill HB9 Introduced / Bill

Filed 02/25/2021

                    87R10963 TYPED
 By: Klick H.B. No. 9


 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 AN ACT
 relating to the criminal punishment and conditions of community
 supervision for the offense of obstructing a highway or other
 passageway; increasing a criminal penalty.
 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 SECTION 1.  Subchapter K, Chapter 42A, Code of Criminal
 Procedure, is amended by adding Article 42A.517 to read as follows:
 Art. 42A.517.  COMMUNITY SUPERVISION FOR CERTAIN OFFENSES
 INVOLVING OBSTRUCTION OF HIGHWAY OR OTHER PASSAGEWAY. A court
 granting community supervision to a defendant convicted of an
 offense punishable as a state jail felony under Section 42.03,
 Penal Code, shall require as a condition of community supervision
 that the defendant submit to not less than 10 days of confinement in
 a county jail.
 SECTION 2.  Section 42.03(c), Penal Code, is amended to read
 as follows:
 (c)  An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor,
 except that the offense is a state jail felony if, in committing the
 offense, the actor knowingly:
 (1)  prevents the passage of an authorized emergency
 vehicle, as defined by Section 541.201, Transportation Code, that
 is operating the vehicle's emergency audible or visual signals; or
 (2)  obstructs access to a hospital licensed under
 Chapter 241, Health and Safety Code, or other health care facility
 that provides emergency medical care, as defined by Section
 773.003, Health and Safety Code.
 SECTION 3.  The changes in law made by this Act apply 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 when 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, 2021.