By Villarreal                                          H.B. No. 151
         Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
         Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
                                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.  Sections 42.07(a) and (b), Penal Code, are
 1-5     amended to read as follows:
 1-6           (a)  A person commits an offense if, with intent to harass,
 1-7     annoy, alarm, abuse, torment, or embarrass another, he:
 1-8                 (1)  initiates communication by telephone, [or] in
 1-9     writing, or by electronic communication and in the course of the
1-10     communication makes a comment, request, suggestion, or proposal
1-11     that is obscene;
1-12                 (2)  threatens, by telephone or in writing,  in a
1-13     manner reasonably likely to alarm the person receiving the threat,
1-14     to inflict bodily injury on the person or to commit a felony
1-15     against the person, a member of his family, or his property;
1-16                 (3)  conveys, in a manner reasonably likely to alarm
1-17     the person receiving the report, a false report, which is known by
1-18     the conveyor to be false, that another person has suffered death or
1-19     serious bodily injury;
1-20                 (4)  causes the telephone of another to ring repeatedly
1-21     or makes repeated telephone communications anonymously or in a
1-22     manner reasonably likely to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment,
 2-1     embarrass, or offend another;
 2-2                 (5)  makes a telephone call and intentionally fails to
 2-3     hang up or disengage the connection; or
 2-4                 (6)  knowingly permits a telephone  under his control
 2-5     to be used by a person to commit an offense under this section.
 2-6           (b)  In this section:
 2-7                 (1)  "Electronic communication" includes a
 2-8     communication initiated by electronic mail, facsimile machine, or
 2-9     by any other electronic device.
2-10                 (2)  "Family" has the meaning assigned by Section
2-11     71.003, Family Code.
2-12                 (3)  "Obscene" [For purposes of Subsection (a)(1),
2-13     "obscene"] means containing a patently offensive description of or
2-14     a solicitation to commit an ultimate sex act, including sexual
2-15     intercourse, masturbation, cunnilingus, fellatio, or anilingus, or
2-16     a description of an excretory function.  [In this section, "family"
2-17     has the meaning assigned by Section 71.003, Family Code.]
2-18           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
2-19     only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
2-20     Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
2-21     the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
2-22     before the effective date.
2-23           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
2-24     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
2-25     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
2-26           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.