By: Nelson S.B. No. 176
(In the Senate - Filed January 9, 2003; January 30, 2003,
read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
April 9, 2003, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 4,
Nays 0; April 9, 2003, sent to printer.)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the offense of interference with an emergency telephone
call.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsection (d), Section 42.062, Penal Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(d) In this section, "emergency" means a condition or
circumstance in which any individual is or is reasonably believed
by the individual making a telephone call to be in fear of imminent
assault [imminent danger of serious bodily injury] or in which
property is or is reasonably believed by the individual making the
telephone call to be in imminent danger of damage or destruction.
SECTION 2. Subsection (a), Article 14.03, Code of Criminal
Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
(a) Any peace officer may arrest, without warrant:
(1) persons found in suspicious places and under
circumstances which reasonably show that such persons have been
guilty of some felony, violation of Title 9, Chapter 42, Penal Code,
breach of the peace, or offense under Section 49.02, Penal Code, or
threaten, or are about to commit some offense against the laws;
(2) persons who the peace officer has probable cause
to believe have committed an assault resulting in bodily injury to
another person and the peace officer has probable cause to believe
that there is danger of further bodily injury to that person;
(3) persons who the peace officer has probable cause
to believe have committed the offense defined by Section 25.07,
Penal Code (violation of Protective Order), if the offense is not
committed in the presence of the peace officer; [or]
(4) persons who the peace officer has probable cause
to believe have committed an assault resulting in bodily injury to a
member of the person's family or household; or
(5) persons who the peace officer has probable cause
to believe have prevented or interfered with an individual's
ability to place a telephone call in an emergency, as defined by
Section 42.062(d), Penal Code, if the offense is not committed in
the presence of the peace officer.
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
section, an offense was committed before the effective date of this
Act if any element of the offense was committed before that date.
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