| 1 | 1 | | By: Talarico H.B. No. 2795 |
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| 2 | 2 | | |
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| 3 | 3 | | |
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| 4 | 4 | | |
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| 5 | 5 | | |
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| 6 | 6 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
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| 7 | 7 | | AN ACT |
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| 8 | 8 | | relating to criminal offenses for creating and distributing certain |
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| 9 | 9 | | misleading images and videos; creating a criminal offense. |
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| 10 | 10 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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| 11 | 11 | | SECTION 1. The heading to Section 255.004, Election Code, |
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| 12 | 12 | | is amended to read as follows: |
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| 13 | 13 | | Sec. 255.004. FALSE IMAGES, VIDEOS, AND SOURCES [TRUE |
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| 14 | 14 | | SOURCE] OF COMMUNICATION. |
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| 15 | 15 | | SECTION 2. Section 255.004, Election Code, is amended by |
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| 16 | 16 | | amending Subsections (c), (d), and (e) and adding Subsections (d-1) |
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| 17 | 17 | | and (d-2) to read as follows: |
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| 18 | 18 | | (c) An offense under Subsection (a), (b), or (d) [this |
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| 19 | 19 | | section] is a Class A misdemeanor. An offense under Subsection |
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| 20 | 20 | | (d-1) is a Class B misdemeanor. |
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| 21 | 21 | | (d) A person commits an offense if the person, with the |
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| 22 | 22 | | intent to deceive and with the intent to injure a candidate or |
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| 23 | 23 | | influence the result of an election: |
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| 24 | 24 | | (1) creates or causes to be created a deep fake video; |
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| 25 | 25 | | and |
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| 26 | 26 | | (2) publishes, distributes, or causes [the deep fake |
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| 27 | 27 | | video] to be published or distributed the deep fake video [within 30 |
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| 28 | 28 | | days of an election]. |
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| 29 | 29 | | (d-1) A person commits an offense if the person, with the |
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| 30 | 30 | | intent to deceive and influence the result of an election: |
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| 31 | 31 | | (1) creates or causes to be created an altered image; |
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| 32 | 32 | | and |
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| 33 | 33 | | (2) publishes, distributes, or causes to be published |
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| 34 | 34 | | or distributed the altered image. |
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| 35 | 35 | | (d-2) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution for an |
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| 36 | 36 | | offense under Subsection (d-1) if the person includes on the image a |
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| 37 | 37 | | clear label stating that the image is altered. |
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| 38 | 38 | | (e) In this section:[,] |
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| 39 | 39 | | (1) "Altered image" means an image that has been |
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| 40 | 40 | | manipulated to change the physical appearance of an individual or |
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| 41 | 41 | | depict an individual performing an action that did not occur. The |
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| 42 | 42 | | term does not include: |
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| 43 | 43 | | (A) a cartoon, caricature, or any other image |
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| 44 | 44 | | that a reasonable viewer would understand to be a satirical |
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| 45 | 45 | | representation of the individual; or |
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| 46 | 46 | | (B) an image altered only to change the |
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| 47 | 47 | | saturation, brightness, contrast, color, or any other superficial |
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| 48 | 48 | | quality of the image. |
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| 49 | 49 | | (2) "Deep ["deep] fake video" means a video[, created |
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| 50 | 50 | | with the intent to deceive,] that appears to depict a real person |
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| 51 | 51 | | performing an action that did not occur in reality. |
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| 52 | 52 | | SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only |
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| 53 | 53 | | to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act. |
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| 54 | 54 | | An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is |
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| 55 | 55 | | governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed, |
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| 56 | 56 | | and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For |
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| 57 | 57 | | purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the |
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| 58 | 58 | | effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred |
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| 59 | 59 | | before that date. |
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| 60 | 60 | | SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025. |
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