By:  Rodriguez                                         H.B. No. 821
       73R4049 DRH-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the creation of the offense of stalking.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Chapter 22, Penal Code, is amended by adding
    1-5  Section 22.11 to read as follows:
    1-6        Sec. 22.11.  STALKING.  (a)  In this section:
    1-7              (1)  "Course of conduct" means a pattern of conduct
    1-8  composed of a series of acts over time demonstrating a continuity
    1-9  of purpose.  The term does not include acts that are legally
   1-10  protected, such as picketing or other organized protests.
   1-11              (2)  "Credible threat" means a threat against a person
   1-12  that causes that person to reasonably fear the person's death or
   1-13  bodily injury.
   1-14              (3)  "Harass" means to engage in a course of conduct
   1-15  directed at a specific person that causes substantial emotional
   1-16  distress in the person and serves no legitimate purpose.
   1-17        (b)  A person commits an offense if the person knowingly
   1-18  harasses or follows another on more than one occasion.
   1-19        (c)  A person commits an offense if the person knowingly:
   1-20              (1)  harasses or follows another on more than one
   1-21  occasion; and
   1-22              (2)  makes a credible threat with the intent to place
   1-23  the other person in fear of death or bodily injury.
   1-24        (d)  An offense under Subsection (b) of this section is a
    2-1  Class A misdemeanor, unless it is shown on the trial of the offense
    2-2  that at the time of the offense a court order was in effect
    2-3  prohibiting the actor from engaging in the conduct described in
    2-4  Subsection (b) against the victim of the offense, in which event
    2-5  the offense is a felony of the third degree.  An offense under
    2-6  Subsection (c) of this section is a felony of the third degree.
    2-7        (e)  If conduct constituting an offense under this section
    2-8  also constitutes an offense under another section of this code, the
    2-9  actor may be prosecuted under either section.
   2-10        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   2-11        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-12  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-13  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-14  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-15  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.