By: Taylor S.B. No. 1831
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the increase of penalties for those who engage in the
crime of solicitation or trafficking on school premises.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 33.021, Penal Code, is amended by adding
Subsection (f-1) to read as follows:
(f-1) The punishment for an offense under this section 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 actor committed the offense during regular
public or private primary or secondary school hours; and
(2) the actor knew or reasonably should have known
that the minor was enrolled in a public or private primary or
secondary school at the time of the offense.
SECTION 2. Section 43.01, Penal Code, is amended to read as
follows:
(1) "Access software provider" means a provider of
software, including client or server software, or enabling tools
that perform one or more of the following functions:
(A) filter, screen, allow, or disallow content;
(B) select, analyze, or digest content; or
(C) transmit, receive, display, forward, cache,
search, subset, organize, reorganize, or translate content.
(1-a) "Deviate sexual intercourse" means any contact between
the genitals of one person and the mouth or anus of another person.
(1-b) "Fee" means the payment or offer of payment in the form
of money, goods, services, or other benefit.
(1-c) "Information content provider" means any person or
entity that is wholly or partly responsible for the creation or
development of information provided through the Internet or any
other interactive computer service.
(1-d) "Interactive computer service" means any information
service, system, or access software provider that provides or
enables computer access to a computer server by multiple users,
including a service or system that provides
access to the Internet or a system operated or service offered by a
library or educational institution.
(1-e) "Internet" means the international computer network of
both federal and nonfederal interoperable packet switched data
networks.
(2) "Premises" has the meaning assigned by Section
481.134, Health and Safety Code.
(2) (3) "Prostitution" means the offense defined in
Section 43.02.
(4) "School" means a private or public elementary or
secondary school.
(3) (5) "Sexual contact" means any touching of the
anus, breast, or any part of the genitals of another person with
intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person.
(4) (6) "Sexual conduct" includes deviate sexual
intercourse, sexual contact, and sexual intercourse.
(5) (7) "Sexual intercourse" means any penetration of
the female sex organ by the male sex organ.
SECTION 3. Section 43.02, Penal Code, is amended by adding
Subsection (c-2) to read as follows:
(c-2) The punishment prescribed for an offense under
Subsection (b) is increased to the punishment prescribed for the
next highest category of offense if it is shown beyond a reasonable
doubt on the trial of the offense that the actor committed the
offense in a location:
(1) on the premises of a school;
(2) within 600 feet of the premises of a school;
(3) on the premises or within 600 feet of the premises
where:
(A) an official school function was taking place;
or
(B) an event sponsored or sanctioned by the
University Interscholastic League was taking place;
SECTION 4. Section 20A.02, Penal Code, is amended to read as
follows:
(b) Except as otherwise provided by this subsection, an
offense under this section is a felony of the second degree. An
offense under this section is a felony of the first degree if:
(1) the applicable conduct constitutes an offense
under Subsection (a)(5), (6), (7), or (8), regardless of whether
the actor knows the age of the child at the time of the offense;
(2) the commission of the offense occurs:
(A) on the premises of a school;
(B) within 600 feet of the premises of a school;
(C) on the premises or within 600 feet of the
premises where:
(i) an official school function was taking
place; or
(ii) an event sponsored or sanctioned by
the University Interscholastic League was taking
place;
(2) (3) the commission of the offense results in the
death of the person who is trafficked; or
(3) (4) the commission of the offense results in the
death of an unborn child of the person who is trafficked.
SECTION 5. Section 20A.01, Penal Code, is amended by adding
Subsections (3) and (4) to read as follows:
(1) "Child" means a person younger than 18 years of
age.
(2) "Commission" means the Health and Human Services
Commission.
(3) "Executive Commissioner" means the Executive
Commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commissioner.
(2) (4) "Forced labor or services" means labor or
services, other than labor or services that constitute sexual
conduct, that are performed or provided by another person and
obtained through an actor's use of force, fraud, or coercion.
(5) "School" means a private or public elementary or
secondary school.
(3) (6) "Sexual conduct" has the meaning assigned by
Section 43.25.
(7) "Premises" has the meaning assigned by Section
481.134, Health and Safety Code.
(4) (8) "Traffic" means to transport, entice, recruit,
harbor, provide, or otherwise obtain another person by any means.
SECTION 6. Chapter 20A, Penal Code, is amended by adding
Sections 20A.05 to read as follows:
Sec. 20A.05. POSTING NOTICE OF NO TRAFFICKING ZONES. (a) a
school, as defined by this Chapter, shall post "No Trafficking"
notices on the premises of the school in the following locations:
(1) parallel to and along the exterior boundaries of
the school's premises;
(2) at each roadway or other way of access to the
premises;
(3) for premises not fenced, at least every five
hundred feet along the exterior boundaries of the premises;
(4) at each entrance to the premises; and
(5) at conspicuous places reasonably likely to be
viewed by all persons entering the premises.
(b) Each "No Trafficking" notice posted on the premises of a
school must:
(1) include a description of the provisions of
Subsection 20A.02(b)(2), Penal Code, including the penalties for
violating Subsection 20A.02, Penal Code;
(2) include the name and address of the person under
whose authority the notice is posted;
(3) be written in English and Spanish; and
(4) be at least 8-1/2 by 11 inches in size.
(c) The executive commissioner by rule shall determine and
prescribe the requirements regarding the placement, installation,
design, size, wording, and maintenance procedures for the "No
Trafficking" notices.
(d) The commission shall provide without charge to schools
the number of "No Trafficking" notices required to comply with this
section and rules adopted under this section.
SECTION 7. 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 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.