H.B. No. 1323
AN ACT
relating to the prosecution of the offense of credit card or debit
card abuse.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 32.31(b), Penal Code, is amended to read
as follows:
(b) A person commits an offense if:
(1) with intent to obtain a benefit fraudulently, he
presents or uses a credit card or debit card with knowledge that:
(A) the card, whether or not expired, has not
been issued to him and is not used with the effective consent of the
cardholder; or
(B) the card has expired or has been revoked or
cancelled;
(2) with intent to obtain a benefit, he uses a
fictitious credit card or debit card or the pretended number or
description of a fictitious card;
(3) he receives a benefit that he knows has been
obtained in violation of this section;
(4) he steals a credit card or debit card or, with
knowledge that it has been stolen, receives a credit card or debit
card with intent to use it, to sell it, or to transfer it to a person
other than the issuer or the cardholder;
(5) he buys a credit card or debit card from a person
who he knows is not the issuer;
(6) not being the issuer, he sells a credit card or
debit card;
(7) he uses or induces the cardholder to use the
cardholder's credit card or debit card to obtain property or
service for the actor's benefit for which the cardholder is
financially unable to pay;
(8) not being the cardholder, and without the
effective consent of the cardholder, he possesses [signs or writes
his name or the name of another on] a credit card or debit card with
intent to use it;
(9) he possesses two or more incomplete credit cards
or debit cards that have not been issued to him with intent to
complete them without the effective consent of the issuer. For
purposes of this subdivision, a card is incomplete if part of the
matter that an issuer requires to appear on the card before it can
be used, other than the signature of the cardholder, has not yet
been stamped, embossed, imprinted, or written on it;
(10) being authorized by an issuer to furnish goods or
services on presentation of a credit card or debit card, he, with
intent to defraud the issuer or the cardholder, furnishes goods or
services on presentation of a credit card or debit card obtained or
retained in violation of this section or a credit card or debit card
that is forged, expired, or revoked; or
(11) being authorized by an issuer to furnish goods or
services on presentation of a credit card or debit card, he, with
intent to defraud the issuer or a cardholder, fails to furnish goods
or services that he represents in writing to the issuer that he has
furnished.
SECTION 2. (a) The change in law made by this Act applies
only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
Act. For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
before the effective date.
(b) An offense committed before the effective date of this
Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1323 was passed by the House on March
31, 2005, by the following vote: Yeas 140, Nays 0, 2 present, not
voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1323 was passed by the Senate on May
25, 2005, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor