By: Shaheen (Senate Sponsor - King) H.B. No. 1833
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 8, 2023;
May 9, 2023, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal
Justice; May 21, 2023, reported adversely, with favorable
Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0;
May 21, 2023, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 1833 By: Flores
COMMITTEE VOTE
YeaNayAbsentPNV
WhitmireX
FloresX
BettencourtX
HinojosaX
HuffmanX
KingX
MilesX
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to increasing the criminal penalty for the offense of
criminal mischief involving a critical infrastructure facility or
public power supply.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 28.03, Penal Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (l) to read as
follows:
(b) Except as provided by Subsections (f), [and] (h), and
(l), an offense under this section is:
(1) a Class C misdemeanor if:
(A) the amount of pecuniary loss is less than
$100; or
(B) except as provided in Subdivision (3)(A) or
(3)(B), it causes substantial inconvenience to others;
(2) a Class B misdemeanor if the amount of pecuniary
loss is $100 or more but less than $750;
(3) a Class A misdemeanor if:
(A) the amount of pecuniary loss is $750 or more
but less than $2,500; or
(B) the actor causes in whole or in part
impairment or interruption of any public water supply, or causes to
be diverted in whole, in part, or in any manner, including
installation or removal of any device for any such purpose, any
public water supply, regardless of the amount of the pecuniary
loss;
(4) a state jail felony if the amount of pecuniary loss
is:
(A) $2,500 or more but less than $30,000;
(B) less than $2,500, if the property damaged or
destroyed is a habitation and if the damage or destruction is caused
by a firearm or explosive weapon;
(C) less than $2,500, if the property was a fence
used for the production or containment of:
(i) cattle, bison, horses, sheep, swine,
goats, exotic livestock, or exotic poultry; or
(ii) game animals as that term is defined by
Section 63.001, Parks and Wildlife Code; or
(D) less than $30,000 and the actor:
(i) causes wholly or partly impairment or
interruption of property used for flood control purposes or a dam or
of public communications, public transportation, public gas [or
power] supply, or other public service; or
(ii) causes to be diverted wholly, partly,
or in any manner, including installation or removal of any device
for any such purpose, any public communications or public gas [or
power] supply;
(5) a felony of the third degree if:
(A) the amount of the pecuniary loss is $30,000
or more but less than $150,000;
(B) the actor, by discharging a firearm or other
weapon or by any other means, causes the death of one or more head of
cattle or bison or one or more horses; [or]
(C) the actor causes wholly or partly impairment
or interruption of access to an automated teller machine,
regardless of the amount of the pecuniary loss; or
(D) the amount of pecuniary loss is less than
$150,000 and the actor:
(i) causes wholly or partly impairment of a
critical infrastructure facility or interruption of the operations
of a critical infrastructure facility; or
(ii) causes to be diverted wholly, partly,
or in any manner, including installation or removal of any device
for any such purpose, any public power supply;
(6) a felony of the second degree if the amount of
pecuniary loss is $150,000 or more but less than $300,000; or
(7) a felony of the first degree if the amount of
pecuniary loss is $300,000 or more.
(l) An offense under this section is:
(1) a felony of the second degree if:
(A) the tangible property damaged, destroyed, or
tampered with is a critical infrastructure facility; and
(B) the actor causes an extended power outage; or
(2) a felony of the first degree if:
(A) the tangible property damaged, destroyed, or
tampered with is a critical infrastructure facility;
(B) the actor causes an extended power outage;
and
(C) either:
(i) the amount of pecuniary damage to the
critical infrastructure facility is $100,000 or more; or
(ii) the actor uses a firearm, drone, cyber
attack, or explosive weapon in the commission of the offense.
SECTION 2. Section 28.03(g), Penal Code, is amended by
adding Subdivisions (10), (11), (12), and (13) to read as follows:
(10) "Critical infrastructure facility" means an
electrical power generating facility, substation, switching
station, electrical control center, or electrical transmission or
distribution facility.
(11) "Cyber attack" means an attempt to damage,
disrupt, or gain unauthorized access to a computer, computer
network, or computer system.
(12) "Drone" has the meaning assigned by Article 2.33,
Code of Criminal Procedure, as added by Chapter 1011 (H.B. 1758),
Acts of the 87th Legislature, Regular Session, 2021.
(13) "Extended power outage" means a power outage:
(A) lasting for two hours or more; or
(B) affecting 1,000 or more meters used to
measure electric energy consumption by retail customers.
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, 2023.
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