H.B. No. 43
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to civil liability for stalking.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Title 4, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is
    1-5  amended by adding Chapter 83 to read as follows:
    1-6                  CHAPTER 83.  LIABILITY FOR STALKING
    1-7        Sec. 83.001.  DEFINITIONS.  In this chapter:
    1-8              (1)  "Claimant" means a party seeking to recover
    1-9  damages under this chapter, including a plaintiff, counterclaimant,
   1-10  cross-claimant, or third-party plaintiff.  In an action in which a
   1-11  party seeks recovery of damages under this chapter on behalf of
   1-12  another person, "claimant" includes both that other person and the
   1-13  party seeking recovery of damages.
   1-14              (2)  "Defendant" includes any party from whom a
   1-15  claimant seeks recovery of damages under this chapter.
   1-16              (3)  "Family" has the meaning assigned by Section
   1-17  71.01, Family Code.
   1-18              (4)  "Harassing behavior" means conduct by the
   1-19  defendant directed specifically toward the claimant, including
   1-20  following the claimant, that is reasonably likely to harass, annoy,
   1-21  alarm, abuse, torment, or embarrass the claimant.
   1-22        Sec. 83.002.  LIABILITY.  A defendant is liable, as provided
   1-23  by this chapter, to a claimant for damages arising from stalking of
   1-24  the claimant by the defendant.
    2-1        Sec. 83.003.  PROOF.  (a)  A claimant proves stalking against
    2-2  a defendant by showing:
    2-3              (1)  on more than one occasion the defendant engaged in
    2-4  harassing behavior;
    2-5              (2)  as a result of the harassing behavior, the
    2-6  claimant reasonably feared for the claimant's safety or the safety
    2-7  of a member of the claimant's family; and
    2-8              (3)  the defendant violated a restraining order
    2-9  prohibiting harassing behavior or:
   2-10                    (A)  the defendant, while engaged in harassing
   2-11  behavior, by acts or words threatened to inflict bodily injury on
   2-12  the claimant or to commit an offense against the claimant, a member
   2-13  of the claimant's family, or the claimant's property;
   2-14                    (B)  the defendant had the apparent ability to
   2-15  carry out the threat;
   2-16                    (C)  the defendant's apparent ability to carry
   2-17  out the threat caused the claimant to reasonably fear for the
   2-18  claimant's safety or the safety of a family member;
   2-19                    (D)  the claimant at least once clearly demanded
   2-20  that the defendant stop the defendant's harassing behavior;
   2-21                    (E)  after the demand to stop by the claimant,
   2-22  the defendant continued the harassing behavior; and
   2-23                    (F)  the harassing behavior has been reported to
   2-24  the police as a stalking offense.
   2-25        (b)  The claimant must, as part of the proof of the behavior
   2-26  described by Subsection (a)(1), submit evidence other than evidence
   2-27  based on the claimant's own perceptions and beliefs.
    3-1        Sec. 83.004.  DAMAGES.  A claimant who prevails in a suit
    3-2  under this chapter may recover actual damages and, subject to
    3-3  Chapter 41, exemplary damages.
    3-4        Sec. 83.005.  DEFENSE.  It is a defense to an action brought
    3-5  under this chapter that the defendant was engaged in conduct that
    3-6  consisted of activity in support of constitutionally or statutorily
    3-7  protected rights.
    3-8        Sec. 83.006.  CAUSE OF ACTION CUMULATIVE.  The cause of
    3-9  action created by this chapter is cumulative of any other remedy
   3-10  provided by common law or statute.
   3-11        SECTION 2.  A person may sue for damages for stalking under
   3-12  Chapter 83, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, as added by this Act,
   3-13  only if an act by the defendant that constitutes part of the proof
   3-14  by the claimant of stalking takes place on or after the effective
   3-15  date of this Act, without regard to whether other acts by the
   3-16  defendant that constitute part of the proof by the claimant of
   3-17  stalking take place before the effective date of this Act.
   3-18        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   3-19  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   3-20  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   3-21  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   3-22  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   3-23  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   3-24  passage, and it is so enacted.