By: West S.B. No. 1551
(In the Senate - Filed March 3, 2023; March 16, 2023, read
first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
April 12, 2023, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 7,
Nays 0; April 12, 2023, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the prosecution of the criminal offense of failure to
identify; creating a criminal offense.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 38.02, Penal Code, is amended by adding
Subsections (b-1), (b-2), (d-1), and (f) and amending Subsection
(c) to read as follows:
(b-1) A person commits an offense if the person:
(1) is an operator of a motor vehicle, as defined by
Section 32.34, who is lawfully detained by a peace officer for an
alleged violation of a law;
(2) fails to provide or display the person's driver's
license on the officer's request for the license; and
(3) intentionally refuses to give the person's name,
driver's license number, residence address, or date of birth to the
peace officer on the officer's request for that information.
(b-2) For purposes of Subsection (b-1)(3), giving a peace
officer a residence address that is different from the address
associated with the person's driver's license does not constitute a
refusal to give the person's residence address in violation of that
provision if the address given to the officer is the person's actual
residence address.
(c) Except as provided by Subsections [Subsections] (d) and
(d-1) [and (e)], an offense under this section is:
(1) a Class C misdemeanor if the offense is committed
under Subsection (a) or (b-1); or
(2) a Class B misdemeanor if the offense is committed
under Subsection (b).
(d-1) An offense under Subsection (b-1) is a Class B
misdemeanor if it is shown on the trial of the offense that the
actor gave a false or fictitious name to the peace officer during
the commission of the offense.
(f) Subject to Subsection (e), if conduct that constitutes
an offense under Subsection (b-1) also constitutes an offense under
any other law, the actor may be prosecuted under that subsection,
the other law, or both.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.
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