By:  Barrientos                                        S.B. No. 542

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

                                       AN ACT

 1-1     relating to the prosecution of the offense of sexual assault.

 1-2           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-3           SECTION 1.  Subsection (b), Section 22.011, Penal Code, is

 1-4     amended to read as follows:

 1-5           (b)  A sexual assault under Subsection (a)(1) is without the

 1-6     consent of the other person if:

 1-7                 (1)  the actor compels the other person to submit or

 1-8     participate by the use of physical force or violence;

 1-9                 (2)  the actor compels the other person to submit or

1-10     participate by threatening to use force or violence against the

1-11     other person, and the other person believes that the actor has the

1-12     present ability to execute the threat;

1-13                 (3)  the other person has not consented and the actor

1-14     knows the other person is unconscious or physically unable to

1-15     resist;

1-16                 (4)  the actor knows that as a result of mental disease

1-17     or defect the other person is at the time of the sexual assault

1-18     incapable either of appraising the nature of the act or of

1-19     resisting it;

1-20                 (5)  the other person has not consented and the actor

1-21     knows the other person is unaware that the sexual assault is

1-22     occurring;

1-23                 (6)  the actor has intentionally impaired the other

 2-1     person's power to appraise or control the other person's conduct by

 2-2     administering any substance without the other person's knowledge;

 2-3                 (7)  the actor compels the other person to submit or

 2-4     participate by threatening to use force or violence against any

 2-5     person, and the other person believes that the actor has the

 2-6     ability to execute the threat;

 2-7                 (8)  the actor is a public servant who coerces the

 2-8     other person to submit or participate;

 2-9                 (9)  the actor is a mental health services provider, a

2-10     physician licensed under the Medical Practice Act (Article 4495b,

2-11     Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), or a chiropractor licensed under

2-12     Chapter 94, Acts of the 51st Legislature, Regular Session, 1949

2-13     (Article 4512b, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), a licensed

2-14     vocational nurse licensed under Chapter 118, Acts of the 52nd

2-15     Legislature, 1951 (Article 4528c, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), a

2-16     physical therapist licensed under Chapter 836, Acts of the 62nd

2-17     Legislature, Regular Session, 1971 (Article 4512e, Vernon's Texas

2-18     Civil Statutes), a physician's assistant licensed under the

2-19     Physician Assistant Licensing Act (Article 4495b-1, Vernon's Texas

2-20     Civil Statutes), or a registered nurse or an advanced practice

2-21     nurse licensed under Chapter 7, Title 71, Revised Statutes, who

2-22     causes the other person, who is a patient or former patient of the

2-23     actor, to submit or participate by exploiting the other person's

2-24     emotional dependency on the actor; or

2-25                 (10)  the actor is a clergyman who causes the other

 3-1     person to submit or participate by exploiting the other person's

 3-2     emotional dependency on the clergyman in the clergyman's

 3-3     professional character as spiritual adviser.

 3-4           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies

 3-5     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this

 3-6     Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before

 3-7     the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs

 3-8     before the effective date.

 3-9           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this

3-10     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,

3-11     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

3-12           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

3-13           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

3-14     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

3-15     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

3-16     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

3-17     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.