H.B. No. 9
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
required by Section 546.003, Transportation Code; 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 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 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 9 was passed by the House on May 6,
2021, by the following vote: Yeas 90, Nays 55, 2 present, not
voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 9 was passed by the Senate on May 22,
2021, by the following vote: Yeas 25, Nays 5.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor