78R4423 EMT-D

By:  Hochberg                                                     H.B. No. 832



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the offense of making a false report of a medical 
emergency to emergency services providers.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 42.06, Penal Code, is amended to read as 
follows:        
	Sec. 42.06.  FALSE ALARM OR REPORT.  (a)  A person commits an 
offense if the person [he] knowingly initiates, communicates or 
circulates a report of a present, past, or future bombing, fire, 
offense, or other nonmedical emergency that the person [he] knows 
is false or baseless and that would ordinarily:
		(1)  cause action by an official or volunteer agency 
organized to deal with emergencies;
		(2)  place a person in fear of imminent serious bodily 
injury;  or          
		(3)  prevent or interrupt the occupation of a building, 
room, place of assembly, place to which the public has access, or 
aircraft, automobile, or other mode of conveyance.
	(b)  A person commits an offense if the person knowingly 
initiates, communicates or circulates a report of a medical 
emergency that the person knows is false or baseless and that would 
ordinarily cause action by an official or volunteer agency 
organized to deal with medical emergencies.
	(c) An offense under Subsection (a) [this section] is a Class 
A misdemeanor unless the false report is of an emergency involving a 
public primary or secondary school, public communications, public 
transportation, public water, gas, or power supply or other public 
service, in which event the offense is a state jail felony.  An 
offense under Subsection (b) is a Class C misdemeanor.
	SECTION 2.  Article 14.06, Code of Criminal Procedure, is 
amended by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
	(c)  A peace officer who is charging a person with committing 
an offense under Section 42.06(b), Penal Code, shall, instead of 
taking the person before a  magistrate, issue a citation to the 
person that contains written notice of the time and place the person 
must appear before a magistrate, the name and address of the person 
charged, and the offense charged.
	SECTION 3.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.                      
	(b)  The change in law made by this Act applies only to an 
offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.   An 
offense committed before the effective date of this Act is covered 
by the law in effect when the offense was committed, and the former 
law is continued in effect for that purpose.  For purposes of this 
subsection, an offense was committed before the effective date of 
this Act if any element of the offense was committed before that 
date.