1-1 By: Carona S.B. No. 139
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed November 30, 2000; January 11, 2001,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
1-4 February 5, 2001, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
1-5 Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 5, Nays 0;
1-6 February 5, 2001, sent to printer.)
1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 139 By: Moncrief
1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-9 AN ACT
1-10 relating to the prosecution of and punishment for the offense of
1-11 harassment.
1-12 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-13 SECTION 1. Section 42.07, Penal Code, is amended to read as
1-14 follows:
1-15 Sec. 42.07. HARASSMENT. (a) A person commits an offense
1-16 if, with intent to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment, or
1-17 embarrass another, he:
1-18 (1) initiates communication by telephone, [or] in
1-19 writing, or by electronic communication and in the course of the
1-20 communication makes a comment, request, suggestion, or proposal
1-21 that is obscene;
1-22 (2) threatens, by telephone, [or] in writing, or by
1-23 electronic communication, in a manner reasonably likely to alarm
1-24 the person receiving the threat, to inflict bodily injury on the
1-25 person or to commit a felony against the person, a member of his
1-26 family, or his property;
1-27 (3) conveys, in a manner reasonably likely to alarm
1-28 the person receiving the report, a false report, which is known by
1-29 the conveyor to be false, that another person has suffered death or
1-30 serious bodily injury;
1-31 (4) causes the telephone of another to ring repeatedly
1-32 or makes repeated telephone communications anonymously or in a
1-33 manner reasonably likely to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment,
1-34 embarrass, or offend another;
1-35 (5) makes a telephone call and intentionally fails to
1-36 hang up or disengage the connection; [or]
1-37 (6) knowingly permits a telephone under the person's
1-38 [his] control to be used by another [a person] to commit an offense
1-39 under this section; or
1-40 (7) sends repeated electronic communications in a
1-41 manner reasonably likely to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment,
1-42 embarrass, or offend another.
1-43 (b) In this section:
1-44 (1) "Electronic communication" means a transfer of
1-45 signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data, or intelligence of
1-46 any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio,
1-47 electromagnetic, photoelectronic, or photo-optical system. The
1-48 term includes:
1-49 (A) a communication initiated by electronic
1-50 mail, instant message, network call, or facsimile machine; and
1-51 (B) a communication made to a pager.
1-52 (2) "Family" has the meaning assigned by Section
1-53 71.003, Family Code.
1-54 (3) "Obscene" [For purposes of Subsection (a)(1),
1-55 "obscene"] means containing a patently offensive description of or
1-56 a solicitation to commit an ultimate sex act, including sexual
1-57 intercourse, masturbation, cunnilingus, fellatio, or anilingus, or
1-58 a description of an excretory function. [In this section, "family"
1-59 has the meaning assigned by Section 71.003, Family Code.]
1-60 (c) An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor,
1-61 except that the offense is a Class A misdemeanor if the actor has
1-62 previously been convicted under this section.
1-63 SECTION 2. (a) The change in law made by this Act applies
1-64 only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
2-1 Act. For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
2-2 the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
2-3 before the effective date.
2-4 (b) An offense committed before the effective date of this
2-5 Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
2-6 and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
2-7 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
2-8 * * * * *