By Talton                                       H.B. No. 1690

      75R4684 JMC-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the prosecution of the offense of harassment.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 42.07(a), Penal Code, is amended  to read

 1-5     as follows:

 1-6           (a)  A person commits an offense if, with intent to harass,

 1-7     cause substantial inconvenience to [annoy], alarm, abuse, or

 1-8     torment[, or embarrass] another, the person [he]:

 1-9                 (1)  initiates communication by telephone or in writing

1-10     and in the course of the communication makes a comment, request,

1-11     suggestion, or proposal that is obscene;

1-12                 (2)  threatens, by telephone or in writing, in a manner

1-13     that the actor knows or reasonably believes is [reasonably] likely

1-14     to frighten [alarm] the person receiving the threat, to inflict

1-15     bodily injury on the person or to commit a felony against the

1-16     person, a member of the person's [his] family, or the person's

1-17     [his] property;

1-18                 (3)  conveys, in a manner that the actor knows or

1-19     reasonably believes is [reasonably] likely to frighten [alarm] the

1-20     person  receiving the report, a false report, which is known by the

1-21     actor [conveyor] to be false, that another person has suffered

1-22     death or serious bodily injury;

1-23                 (4)  causes the telephone of another to ring repeatedly

1-24     or makes repeated telephone communications anonymously or in a

 2-1     manner that the actor  knows or reasonably believes is [reasonably]

 2-2     likely  to harass, cause substantial inconvenience to [annoy],

 2-3     alarm, abuse, torment, [embarrass,] or offend another;

 2-4                 (5)  makes a telephone call and intentionally fails to

 2-5     hang up or disengage the connection; or

 2-6                 (6)  knowingly permits a telephone under his control to

 2-7     be used by a person to commit an offense under this section.

 2-8           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies

 2-9     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this

2-10     Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed  before

2-11     the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs

2-12     before that date.

2-13           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this

2-14     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,

2-15     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

2-16           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

2-17           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-18     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-19     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-20     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-21     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.