H.B. No. 2096
AN ACT
relating to criminal consequences of conduct that involves certain
trafficking or transporting of persons.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter I, Chapter 545, Transportation Code,
is amended by adding Section 545.4191 to read as follows:
Sec. 545.4191. PERSON RIDING IN TRAILER OR SEMITRAILER
DRAWN BY TRUCK, ROAD TRACTOR, OR TRUCK TRACTOR. (a) A person may
not operate a truck, road tractor, or truck tractor when another
person occupies a trailer or semitrailer being drawn by the truck,
road tractor, or truck tractor.
(b) It is a defense to prosecution under this section that:
(1) the person was operating or towing the vehicle:
(A) in a parade or in an emergency;
(B) to transport farmworkers from one field to
another field on a farm-to-market road, ranch-to-market road, or
county road outside a municipality; or
(C) in a hayride permitted by the governing body
of or a law enforcement agency of each county or municipality in
which the hayride will occur;
(2) the person operating or towing the vehicle did not
know that another person occupied the trailer or semitrailer; or
(3) the person occupying the trailer or semitrailer
was in a part of the trailer or semitrailer designed for human
habitation.
(c) An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor.
SECTION 2. Title 5, Penal Code, is amended by adding Chapter
20A to read as follows:
CHAPTER 20A. TRAFFICKING OF PERSONS
Sec. 20A.01. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Forced labor or services" means labor or services
that are performed or provided by another person and obtained
through an actor's:
(A) threatening to cause bodily injury to
another;
(B) restraining another in a manner described by
Section 20.01(1); or
(C) withholding from another the person's:
(i) government records;
(ii) identifying information; or
(iii) personal property.
(2) "Traffic" means to transport another person or to
entice, recruit, harbor, provide, or otherwise obtain another
person for transport by deception, coercion, or force.
Sec. 20A.02. TRAFFICKING OF PERSONS. (a) A person commits
an offense if the person knowingly traffics another person with the
intent that the trafficked person engage in:
(1) forced labor or services; or
(2) conduct that constitutes an offense under Chapter
43.
(b) Except as otherwise provided by this subsection, an
offense under this section is a felony of the second degree. An
offense under this section is a felony of the first degree if:
(1) the offense is committed under Subsection (a)(2)
and the person who is trafficked is younger than 14 years of age at
the time of the offense; or
(2) the commission of the offense results in the death
of the person who is trafficked.
(c) If conduct constituting an offense under this section
also constitutes an offense under another section of this code, the
actor may be prosecuted under either section or under both
sections.
SECTION 3. Section 71.02(a), Penal Code, is amended to read
as follows:
(a) A person commits an offense if, with the intent to
establish, maintain, or participate in a combination or in the
profits of a combination or as a member of a criminal street gang,
he commits or conspires to commit one or more of the following:
(1) murder, capital murder, arson, aggravated
robbery, robbery, burglary, theft, aggravated kidnapping,
kidnapping, aggravated assault, aggravated sexual assault, sexual
assault, forgery, deadly conduct, assault punishable as a Class A
misdemeanor, burglary of a motor vehicle, or unauthorized use of a
motor vehicle;
(2) any gambling offense punishable as a Class A
misdemeanor;
(3) promotion of prostitution, aggravated promotion
of prostitution, or compelling prostitution;
(4) unlawful manufacture, transportation, repair, or
sale of firearms or prohibited weapons;
(5) unlawful manufacture, delivery, dispensation, or
distribution of a controlled substance or dangerous drug, or
unlawful possession of a controlled substance or dangerous drug
through forgery, fraud, misrepresentation, or deception;
(6) any unlawful wholesale promotion or possession of
any obscene material or obscene device with the intent to wholesale
promote the same;
(7) any offense under Subchapter B, Chapter 43,
depicting or involving conduct by or directed toward a child
younger than 18 years of age;
(8) any felony offense under Chapter 32[, Penal Code];
(9) any offense under Chapter 36[, Penal Code];
(10) any offense under Chapter 34[, Penal Code]; [or]
(11) any offense under Section 37.11(a); or
(12) any offense under Chapter 20A[, Penal Code].
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2096 was passed by the House on April
14, 2003, by a non-record vote; and that the House concurred in
Senate amendments to H.B. No. 2096 on May 22, 2003, by a non-record
vote.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2096 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 21, 2003, by a viva-voce vote.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor