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By: Denny H.B. No. 2248
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to certain criminal activity affecting a financial
institution.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 29.03, Penal Code, is amended by adding
subsection (d) to read as follows:
(d) In this section, "financial institution" means a bank,
trust company, insurance company, credit union, building and loan
association, savings and loan association, investment trust,
investment company, or any other organization held out to the
public as a place for deposit of funds or medium of savings or
collective investment.
SECTION 2. Section 32.21, Penal Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 32.21. Forgery. (a) For purposes of this section:
(1) "Forge" means:
(A) to alter, make, complete, execute, or
authenticate any writing so that it purports:
(i) to be the act of another who did not
authorize that act;
(ii) to have been executed at a time or
place or in a numbered sequence other than was in fact the case; or
(iii) to be a copy of an original when no
such original existed;
(B) to issue, transfer, register the transfer of,
pass, publish, or otherwise utter a writing that is forged within
the meaning of Paragraph (A); or
(C) to possess a writing that is forged within
the meaning of Paragraph (A) with intent to utter it in a manner
specified in Paragraph (B).
(2) "Writing" includes:
(A) printing or any other method of recording
information;
(B) money, coins, tokens, stamps, seals, credit
cards, badges, and trademarks; and
(C) symbols of value, right, privilege, or
identification.
(b) A person commits an offense if he forges a writing with
intent to defraud or harm another.
(c) Except as provided in Subsections (d) and (e) an offense
under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.
(d) An offense under this section is a state jail felony if
the writing is or purports to be a will, codicil, deed, deed of
trust, mortgage, security instrument, security agreement, credit
card, check, authorization to debit an account at a financial
institution, or similar sight order for payment of money, contract,
release, or other commercial instrument.
(e) An offense under this section is a felony of the third
degree if the writing is or purports to be:
(1) part of an issue of money, securities, postage or
revenue stamps;
(2) a government record listed in Section 37.01(2)(C);
or
(3) other instruments issued by a state or national
government or by a subdivision of either, or part of an issue of
stock, bonds, or other instruments representing interests in or
claims against another person.
(f) A person is presumed to intend to defraud or harm
another if the person acts with respect to two or more writings of
the same type and if each writing is a government record listed in
Section 37.01(2)(C).
SECTION 3. Section 32.31, Penal Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 32.31. Credit Card or Debit Card Abuse. (a) For
purposes of this section:
(1) "Cardholder" means the person named on the face of
a credit card or debit card to whom or for whose benefit the card is
issued.
(2) "Credit card" means an identification card, plate,
coupon, book, number, or any other device authorizing a designated
person or bearer to obtain property or services on credit. The term
includes the number or description of the device if the device
itself is not produced at the time of ordering or obtaining the
property or service.
(3) "Expired credit card" means a credit card bearing
an expiration date after that date has passed.
(4) "Debit card" means an identification card, plate,
coupon, book, number, or any other device authorizing a designated
person or bearer to communicate a request to an unmanned teller
machine or a customer convenience terminal or obtain property or
services by debit to an account at a financial institution. The
term includes the number or description of the device if the device
itself is not produced at the time of ordering or obtaining the
benefit.
(5) "Expired debit card" means a debit card bearing as
its expiration date a date that has passed.
(6) "Unmanned teller machine" means a machine, other
than a telephone, capable of being operated by a customer, by which
a customer may communicate to a financial institution a request to
withdraw a benefit for himself or for another directly from the
customer's account or from the customer's account under a line of
credit previously authorized by the institution for the customer.
(7) "Customer convenience terminal" means an unmanned
teller machine the use of which does not involve personnel of a
financial institution.
(b) A person commits an offense if:
(1) with intent to obtain a benefit fraudulently, he
presents or uses a credit card or debit card with knowledge that:
(A) the card, whether or not expired, has not
been issued to him and is not used with the effective consent of the
cardholder; or
(B) the card has expired or has been revoked or
cancelled;
(2) with intent to obtain a benefit, he uses a
fictitious credit card or debit card or the pretended number or
description of a fictitious card;
(3) he receives a benefit that he knows has been
obtained in violation of this section;
(4) he steals a credit card or debit card or, with
knowledge that it has been stolen, receives a credit card or debit
card with intent to use it, to sell it, or to transfer it to a person
other than the issuer or the cardholder;
(5) he buys a credit card or debit card from a person
who he knows is not the issuer;
(6) not being the issuer, he sells a credit card or
debit card;
(7) he uses or induces the cardholder to use the
cardholder's credit card or debit card to obtain property or
service for the actor's benefit for which the cardholder is
financially unable to pay;
(8) not being the cardholder, and without the
effective consent of the cardholder, he signs or writes his name or
the name of another on a credit card or debit card with intent to use
it;
(9) he possesses two or more incomplete credit cards
or debit cards that have not been issued to him with intent to
complete them without the effective consent of the issuer. For
purposes of this subdivision, a card is incomplete if part of the
matter that an issuer requires to appear on the card before it can
be used, other than the signature of the cardholder, has not yet
been stamped, embossed, imprinted, or written on it;
(10) being authorized by an issuer to furnish goods or
services on presentation of a credit card or debit card, he, with
intent to defraud the issuer or the cardholder, furnishes goods or
services on presentation of a credit card or debit card obtained or
retained in violation of this section or a credit card or debit card
that is forged, expired, or revoked; or
(11) being authorized by an issuer to furnish goods or
services on presentation of a credit card or debit card, he, with
intent to defraud the issuer or a cardholder, fails to furnish goods
or services that he represents in writing to the issuer that he has
furnished.
(c) It is presumed that a person who used a revoked,
cancelled, or expired credit card or debit card had knowledge that
the card had been revoked, cancelled, or expired if he had received
notice of revocation, cancellation, or expiration from the issuer.
For purposes of this section, notice may be either notice given
orally in person or by telephone, or in writing by mail or by
telegram. If written notice was sent by registered or certified
mail with return receipt requested, or by telegram with report of
delivery requested, addressed to the cardholder at the last address
shown by the records of the issuer, it is presumed that the notice
was received by the cardholder no later than five days after sent.
(d) An offense under this section is a state jail felony.
SECTION 4. Section 32.51, Penal Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 32.51. Fraudulent Use or Possession of Identifying
Information. (a) In this section:
(1) "Identifying information" means information that
alone or in conjunction with other information identifies an
individual, including an individual's:
(A) name, social security number, date of birth,
and government-issued identification number;
(B) unique biometric data, including the
individual's fingerprint, voice print, and retina or iris image;
(C) unique electronic identification number,
address, and routing code, financial institution account number;
and
(D) telecommunication identifying information or
access device.
(2) "Telecommunication access device" means a card,
plate, code, account number, personal identification number,
electronic serial number, mobile identification number, or other
telecommunications service, equipment, or instrument identifier or
means of account access that alone or in conjunction with another
telecommunication access device may be used to:
(A) obtain money, goods, services, or other thing
of value; or
(B) initiate a transfer of funds other than a
transfer originated solely by paper instrument.
(b) A person commits an offense if the person obtains,
possesses, transfers, or uses identifying information of another
person without the other person's consent and with intent to harm or
defraud another.
(c) An offense under this section is a state jail felony.
(d) If a court orders a defendant convicted of an offense
under this section to make restitution to the victim of the offense,
the court may order the defendant to reimburse the victim for lost
income or other expenses, other than attorney's fees, incurred as a
result of the offense.
(e) If conduct that constitutes an offense under this
section also constitutes an offense under any other law, the actor
may be prosecuted under this section or the other law.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.