By: King S.B. No. 1709
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the prosecution of the offenses of sedition and
engaging in organized criminal activity; increasing criminal
penalties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 557.001, Government Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (b-1) to read as
follows:
(a) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly:
(1) commits, attempts to commit, or conspires with one
or more persons to commit an act intended to overthrow,
destabilize, destroy, or alter the constitutional form of
government of this state or of any political subdivision of this
state by force, [or] violence, or a threat of force or violence;
(2) under circumstances that constitute a clear and
present danger to the security of this state or a political
subdivision of this state, advocates, advises, or teaches or
conspires with one or more persons to advocate, advise, or teach a
person to commit or attempt to commit an act described in
Subdivision (1); or
(3) participates, with knowledge of the nature of the
organization, in the management of an organization that engages in
or attempts to engage in an act intended to overthrow, destabilize,
destroy, or alter the constitutional form of government of this
state or of any political subdivision of this state by force or
violence.
(b-1) Notwithstanding Section 15.02(d), Penal Code, a
conspiracy to commit an offense under this section is punishable in
the same manner as an offense under this section.
SECTION 2. Section 71.02, Penal Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 71.02. ENGAGING IN ORGANIZED CRIMINAL ACTIVITY. (a) A
person commits an offense if, with the intent to establish,
maintain, or participate in a combination or in the profits of a
combination or as a member of a criminal street gang or
transnational criminal organization, the person commits or
conspires to commit one or more of the following:
(1) murder, capital murder, arson, aggravated
robbery, robbery, burglary, theft, aggravated kidnapping,
kidnapping, aggravated assault, aggravated sexual assault, sexual
assault, continuous sexual abuse of young child or disabled
individual, solicitation of a minor, forgery, deadly conduct,
assault punishable as a Class A misdemeanor, burglary of a motor
vehicle, or unauthorized use of a motor vehicle;
(2) any gambling offense punishable as a Class A
misdemeanor;
(3) promotion of prostitution, aggravated promotion
of prostitution, or compelling prostitution;
(4) unlawful manufacture, transportation, repair, or
sale of firearms or prohibited weapons;
(5) unlawful manufacture, delivery, dispensation, or
distribution of, or unlawful possession with the intent to deliver
a controlled substance or dangerous drug, or unlawful possession of
a controlled substance or dangerous drug through forgery, fraud,
misrepresentation, or deception;
(5-a) causing the unlawful delivery, dispensation, or
distribution of a controlled substance or dangerous drug in
violation of Subtitle B, Title 3, Occupations Code;
(6) any unlawful wholesale promotion or possession of
any obscene material or obscene device with the intent to wholesale
promote the same;
(7) any offense under Subchapter B, Chapter 43,
depicting or involving conduct by or directed toward a child
younger than 18 years of age;
(8) any felony offense under Chapter 32;
(9) any offense under Chapter 36;
(10) any offense under Chapter 34, 35, or 35A;
(11) any offense under Section 37.11(a);
(12) any offense under Chapter 20A;
(13) any offense under Section 37.10;
(14) any offense under Section 38.06, 38.07, 38.09, or
38.11;
(15) any offense under Section 42.10;
(16) any offense under Section 46.06(a)(1) or 46.14;
(17) any offense under Section 20.05 or 20.06;
(18) any offense under Section 16.02; or
(19) any offense classified as a felony under the Tax
Code.
(b) Except as provided in Subsections (c), [and] (d), and
(e), an offense under this section is one category higher than the
most serious offense listed in Subsection (a) that was committed,
and if the most serious offense is a Class A misdemeanor, the
offense is a state jail felony, except that the offense is a felony
of the first degree punishable by imprisonment in the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice for:
(1) life without parole, if the most serious offense
is an aggravated sexual assault and if at the time of that offense
the defendant is 18 years of age or older and:
(A) the victim of the offense is younger than six
years of age;
(B) the victim of the offense is younger than 14
years of age and the actor commits the offense in a manner described
by Section 22.021(a)(2)(A); or
(C) the victim of the offense is younger than 17
years of age and suffered serious bodily injury as a result of the
offense;
(2) life or for any term of not more than 99 years or
less than 30 years if the most serious offense is an offense under
Section 20.06 that is punishable under Subsection (g) of that
section; or
(3) life or for any term of not more than 99 years or
less than 15 years if the most serious offense is an offense
punishable as a felony of the first degree, other than an offense
described by Subdivision (1) or (2).
(c) Notwithstanding Section 15.02(d), a conspiracy
[Conspiring] to commit an offense under this section is punishable
in [is of] the same manner as an offense under this section [degree
as the most serious offense listed in Subsection (a) that the person
conspired to commit].
(d) At the punishment stage of a trial, the defendant may
raise the issue as to whether in voluntary and complete
renunciation of the offense he withdrew from the combination before
commission of an offense listed in Subsection (a) and made
substantial effort to prevent the commission of the offense. If the
defendant proves the issue in the affirmative by a preponderance of
the evidence the offense is the same category of offense as the most
serious offense listed in Subsection (a) that is committed[, unless
the defendant is convicted of conspiring to commit the offense, in
which event the offense is one category lower than the most serious
offense that the defendant conspired to commit].
(e) An offense that is punishable as a second degree felony
or as any lower category of offense under Subsection (b) is one
additional category higher than the category listed under
Subsection (b) if the person used or exhibited a deadly weapon
during the commission of one or more of the offenses listed under
Subsection (a) and if an offense is punishable as a Class A
misdemeanor under Subsection (b), the offense is a state jail
felony.
(f) In this section, "transnational criminal organization"
means two or more persons with an identifiable leadership who
operate internationally and who continuously or regularly
associate to engage in corruption, violence, or the commission of
other criminal activities.
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.