1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the creation of the criminal offense of unlawful
1-3 installation of a tracking device on a motor vehicle.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Chapter 16, Penal Code, is amended by adding
1-6 Section 16.06 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 16.06. UNLAWFUL INSTALLATION OF TRACKING DEVICE. (a)
1-8 In this section:
1-9 (1) "Electronic or mechanical tracking device" means a
1-10 device capable of emitting an electronic frequency or other signal
1-11 that may be used by a person to identify, monitor, or record the
1-12 location of another person or object.
1-13 (2) "Motor vehicle" has the meaning assigned by
1-14 Section 501.002, Transportation Code.
1-15 (b) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly
1-16 installs an electronic or mechanical tracking device on a motor
1-17 vehicle owned or leased by another person.
1-18 (c) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.
1-19 (d) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this
1-20 section that the person:
1-21 (1) obtained the effective consent of the owner or
1-22 lessee of the motor vehicle before the electronic or mechanical
1-23 tracking device was installed;
1-24 (2) was a peace officer who installed the device in
2-1 the course of a criminal investigation or pursuant to an order of a
2-2 court to gather information for a law enforcement agency;
2-3 (3) assisted another whom the person reasonably
2-4 believed to be a peace officer authorized to install the device in
2-5 the course of a criminal investigation or pursuant to an order of a
2-6 court to gather information for a law enforcement agency; or
2-7 (4) was a private investigator licensed under the
2-8 Private Investigators and Private Security Agencies Act (Article
2-9 4413(29bb), Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes) who installed the
2-10 device:
2-11 (A) with written consent:
2-12 (i) to install the device given by the
2-13 owner or lessee of the motor vehicle; and
2-14 (ii) to enter private residential
2-15 property, if that entry was necessary to install the device, given
2-16 by the owner or lessee of the property; or
2-17 (B) pursuant to an order of or other
2-18 authorization from a court to gather information.
2-19 SECTION 2. The heading to Chapter 16, Penal Code, is amended
2-20 to read as follows:
2-21 CHAPTER 16. CRIMINAL INSTRUMENTS, [AND] INTERCEPTION OF WIRE OR
2-22 ORAL COMMUNICATION, AND INSTALLATION OF TRACKING DEVICE
2-23 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-24 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-25 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-26 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-27 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-1 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1001 was passed by the House on April
23, 1999, by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1001 was passed by the Senate on May
26, 1999, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor