Texas 2023 - 88th Regular

Texas House Bill HB2143 Compare Versions

Version 1 (Old)

Version 2 (New)

Old	New	Differences
1	1	88R1679 MEW-F
2	2	By: Meyer H.B. No. 2143
3	3
4	4
5	5	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
6	6	AN ACT
7	7	relating to the punishment for possession of child pornography;
8	8	increasing criminal penalties.
9	9	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
10	10	SECTION 1. Section 43.26, Penal Code, is amended by
11	11	amending Subsection (d) and adding Subsection (d-1) to read as
12	12	follows:
13	13	(d) An offense under Subsection (a) is:
14	14	(1) a felony of the third degree if the person
15	15	possesses visual material that contains fewer than 100 visual
16	16	depictions of a child as described by Subsection (a)(1);
17	17	(2) [, except that the offense is:
18	18	[(1)] a felony of the second degree if [it is shown on
19	19	the trial of the offense that] the person possesses visual material
20	20	that contains 100 or more visual depictions of a child as described
21	21	by Subsection (a)(1) but fewer than 500 such depictions [has been
22	22	previously convicted one time of an offense under that subsection];
23	23	(3) [and
24	24	[(2)] a felony of the first degree if [it is shown on the
25	25	trial of the offense that] the person possesses visual material
26	26	that contains 500 or more visual depictions of a child as described
27	27	by Subsection (a)(1); or
28	28	(4) a felony of the first degree punishable by
29	29	imprisonment in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for life
30	30	or for any term of not more than 99 years or less than 25 years if it
31	31	is shown on the trial of the offense that, at the time of the
32	32	offense, the person was:
33	33	(A) an employee at a child-care facility or a
34	34	residential child-care facility, as those terms are defined by
35	35	Section 42.002, Human Resources Code;
36	36	(B) an employee at a residential treatment
37	37	facility established under Section 221.056, Human Resources Code;
38	38	(C) an employee at a shelter or facility that
39	39	serves youth and that receives state funds; or
40	40	(D) receiving state funds for the care of a child
41	41	depicted by the visual material [has been previously convicted two
42	42	or more times of an offense under that subsection].
43	43	(d-1) If it is shown on the trial of an offense under
44	44	Subsection (a) that the visual material depicted a child younger
45	45	than 10 years of age at the time the image of the child was made or
46	46	that the defendant has been previously convicted of an offense
47	47	under that subsection:
48	48	(1) an offense described for purposes of punishment by
49	49	Subsection (d)(1) or (2) is increased to the next higher category of
50	50	offense; or
51	51	(2) the minimum term of confinement for an offense
52	52	described for purposes of punishment by Subsection (d)(3) is
53	53	increased to 15 years.
54	54	SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
55	55	to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.
56	56	An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is
57	57	governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed,
58	58	and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For
59	59	purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the
60	60	effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred
61	61	before that date.
62	62	SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.