By Hartnett                                           H.B. No. 1001
         76R872 KLA-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 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 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 of the
1-22     motor vehicle before the electronic or mechanical tracking device
1-23     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; or
 2-3                 (3)  assisted another who 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.
 2-7           SECTION 2.  The heading of Chapter 16, Penal Code, is amended
 2-8     to read as follows:
 2-9      CHAPTER 16.  CRIMINAL INSTRUMENTS, [AND] INTERCEPTION OF WIRE OR
2-10           ORAL COMMUNICATION, AND INSTALLATION OF TRACKING DEVICE
2-11           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-12           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-13     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-14     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-15     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-16     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.