1-1 By: Hartnett, Talton (Senate Sponsor - West) H.B. No. 1001
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House April 26, 1999;
1-3 April 27, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Criminal Justice; May 14, 1999, reported favorably by the following
1-5 vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 14, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the creation of the criminal offense of unlawful
1-9 installation of a tracking device on a motor vehicle.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Chapter 16, Penal Code, is amended by adding
1-12 Section 16.06 to read as follows:
1-13 Sec. 16.06. UNLAWFUL INSTALLATION OF TRACKING DEVICE. (a)
1-14 In this section:
1-15 (1) "Electronic or mechanical tracking device" means a
1-16 device capable of emitting an electronic frequency or other signal
1-17 that may be used by a person to identify, monitor, or record the
1-18 location of another person or object.
1-19 (2) "Motor vehicle" has the meaning assigned by
1-20 Section 501.002, Transportation Code.
1-21 (b) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly
1-22 installs an electronic or mechanical tracking device on a motor
1-23 vehicle owned or leased by another person.
1-24 (c) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.
1-25 (d) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this
1-26 section that the person:
1-27 (1) obtained the effective consent of the owner or
1-28 lessee of the motor vehicle before the electronic or mechanical
1-29 tracking device was installed;
1-30 (2) was a peace officer who installed the device in
1-31 the course of a criminal investigation or pursuant to an order of a
1-32 court to gather information for a law enforcement agency;
1-33 (3) assisted another whom the person reasonably
1-34 believed to be a peace officer authorized to install the device in
1-35 the course of a criminal investigation or pursuant to an order of a
1-36 court to gather information for a law enforcement agency; or
1-37 (4) was a private investigator licensed under the
1-38 Private Investigators and Private Security Agencies Act (Article
1-39 4413(29bb), Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes) who installed the
1-40 device:
1-41 (A) with written consent:
1-42 (i) to install the device given by the
1-43 owner or lessee of the motor vehicle; and
1-44 (ii) to enter private residential
1-45 property, if that entry was necessary to install the device, given
1-46 by the owner or lessee of the property; or
1-47 (B) pursuant to an order of or other
1-48 authorization from a court to gather information.
1-49 SECTION 2. The heading to Chapter 16, Penal Code, is amended
1-50 to read as follows:
1-51 CHAPTER 16. CRIMINAL INSTRUMENTS, [AND] INTERCEPTION OF WIRE OR
1-52 ORAL COMMUNICATION, AND INSTALLATION OF TRACKING DEVICE
1-53 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-54 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
1-55 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-56 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-57 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-58 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-59 * * * * *