By Combs H.B. No. 317
74R2759 PEP-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to conduct constituting the offense of disorderly conduct
1-3 and the punishment for engaging in that conduct.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Articles 42.01(a) and (d), Penal Code, are
1-6 amended to read as follows:
1-7 (a) A person commits an offense if he intentionally or
1-8 knowingly:
1-9 (1) uses abusive, indecent, profane, or vulgar
1-10 language in a public place, and the language by its very utterance
1-11 tends to incite an immediate breach of the peace;
1-12 (2) makes an offensive gesture or display in a public
1-13 place, and the gesture or display tends to incite an immediate
1-14 breach of the peace;
1-15 (3) creates, by chemical means, a noxious and
1-16 unreasonable odor in a public place;
1-17 (4) abuses or threatens a person in a public place in
1-18 an obviously offensive manner;
1-19 (5) makes unreasonable noise in a public place other
1-20 than a sport shooting range, as defined by Section 250.001, Local
1-21 Government Code, or in or near a private residence that he has no
1-22 right to occupy;
1-23 (6) fights with another in a public place;
1-24 (7) <enters on the property of another and> for a lewd
2-1 or unlawful purpose:
2-2 (A) enters on the property of another and looks
2-3 into a dwelling on the property through any window or other opening
2-4 in the dwelling; or
2-5 (B) maintains and employs an apparatus in the
2-6 person's private residence designed to permit the person to view
2-7 another while engaged in activity the other reasonably believes is
2-8 conducted in privacy;
2-9 (8) while on the premises of a hotel or comparable
2-10 establishment, for a lewd or unlawful purpose looks into a guest
2-11 room not his own through a window or other opening in the room;
2-12 (9) discharges a firearm in a public place other than
2-13 a public road or a sport shooting range, as defined by Section
2-14 250.001, Local Government Code;
2-15 (10) displays a firearm or other deadly weapon in a
2-16 public place in a manner calculated to alarm;
2-17 (11) discharges a firearm on or across a public road;
2-18 or
2-19 (12) exposes his anus or genitals in a public place
2-20 and is reckless about whether another may be present who will be
2-21 offended or alarmed by his act.
2-22 (d) Except as otherwise provided by this subsection, an <An>
2-23 offense under this section is a Class C misdemeanor. An offense
2-24 under <unless committed under> Subsection (a)(9) or (a)(10)<, in
2-25 which event it> is a Class B misdemeanor. An offense under
2-26 Subsection (a)(7)(B) is a Class A misdemeanor.
2-27 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
3-1 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-2 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-3 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-4 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-5 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.