79S30196 SLO-D
By: Hochberg H.B. No. 71
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to gang-related activity in and around public schools;
providing a criminal penalty.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 37.006, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (f-1) to read as follows:
(f-1) A student may be removed from class and placed in a
disciplinary alternative education program under Section 37.008 if
the student is identified by the board of trustees, or the board's
designee, as a member of a criminal street gang, as defined by
Section 71.01, Penal Code, as evidenced through any two of the
following:
(1) self-admission by the student of criminal street
gang membership;
(2) identification of the student as a criminal street
gang member by a reliable informant or other individual who is not a
member of the board of trustees or the board's designee;
(3) a corroborated identification of the student as a
criminal street gang member by an informant or other individual of
unknown reliability;
(4) evidence that the student frequents a documented
area of a criminal street gang, associates with known criminal
street gang members, and uses criminal street gang dress, hand
signals, tattoos, or symbols; or
(5) evidence that the student has been arrested or
taken into custody with known criminal street gang members for an
offense or conduct consistent with criminal street gang activity.
SECTION 2. Sections 37.007(a) and (b), Education Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) A student shall be expelled from a school if the
student, on school property or while attending a school-sponsored
or school-related activity on or off of school property:
(1) uses, exhibits, or possesses:
(A) a firearm as defined by Section 46.01(3),
Penal Code;
(B) an illegal knife as defined by Section
46.01(6), Penal Code, or by local policy;
(C) a club as defined by Section 46.01(1), Penal
Code; or
(D) a weapon listed as a prohibited weapon under
Section 46.05, Penal Code;
(2) engages in conduct that contains the elements of
the offense of:
(A) aggravated assault under Section 22.02,
Penal Code, sexual assault under Section 22.011, Penal Code, or
aggravated sexual assault under Section 22.021, Penal Code;
(B) arson under Section 28.02, Penal Code;
(C) murder under Section 19.02, Penal Code,
capital murder under Section 19.03, Penal Code, or criminal
attempt, under Section 15.01, Penal Code, to commit murder or
capital murder;
(D) indecency with a child under Section 21.11,
Penal Code;
(E) aggravated kidnapping under Section 20.04,
Penal Code;
(F) aggravated robbery under Section 29.03,
Penal Code;
(G) manslaughter under Section 19.04, Penal
Code; or
(H) criminally negligent homicide under Section
19.05, Penal Code; [or]
(3) engages in conduct specified by Section
37.006(a)(2)(C) or (D), if the conduct is punishable as a felony; or
(4) engages in conduct:
(A) that contains the elements of the offense of
assault under Section 22.01, Penal Code, deadly conduct under
Section 22.05, Penal Code, terroristic threat under Section 22.07,
Penal Code, or coercing, soliciting, or inducing gang membership
under Section 22.015 or 71.022, Penal Code; and
(B) that a reasonable person would believe is a
manifestation of membership in a criminal street gang, as defined
by Section 71.01, Penal Code.
(b) A student may be expelled if the student:
(1) engages in conduct involving a public school that
contains the elements of the offense of false alarm or report under
Section 42.06, Penal Code, or terroristic threat under Section
22.07, Penal Code;
(2) while on or within 300 feet of school property, as
measured from any point on the school's real property boundary
line, or while attending a school-sponsored or school-related
activity on or off of school property:
(A) sells, gives, or delivers to another person
or possesses, uses, or is under the influence of any amount of:
(i) marihuana or a controlled substance, as
defined by Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code, or by 21 U.S.C.
Section 801 et seq.;
(ii) a dangerous drug, as defined by
Chapter 483, Health and Safety Code; or
(iii) an alcoholic beverage, as defined by
Section 1.04, Alcoholic Beverage Code;
(B) engages in conduct that contains the elements
of an offense relating to an abusable volatile chemical under
Sections 485.031 through 485.034, Health and Safety Code;
(C) engages in conduct that contains the elements
of an offense under Section 22.01(a)(1), Penal Code, against a
school district employee or a volunteer as defined by Section
22.053; [or]
(D) engages in conduct that contains the elements
of the offense of deadly conduct under Section 22.05, Penal Code; or
(E) solicits another student to participate in
the activities of or become a member of a criminal street gang, as
defined by Section 71.01, Penal Code, in a manner that does not
constitute an offense under Section 22.015 or 71.022, Penal Code;
(3) subject to Subsection (d), while within 300 feet
of school property, as measured from any point on the school's real
property boundary line:
(A) engages in conduct specified by Subsection
(a); or
(B) possesses a firearm, as defined by 18 U.S.C.
Section 921; or
(4) engages in conduct that contains the elements of
any offense listed in Subsection (a)(2)(A) or (C) or the offense of
aggravated robbery under Section 29.03, Penal Code, against another
student, without regard to whether the conduct occurs on or off of
school property or while attending a school-sponsored or
school-related activity on or off of school property.
SECTION 3. The heading to Section 37.121, Education Code,
is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 37.121. FRATERNITIES, SORORITIES, AND SECRET
SOCIETIES[, AND GANGS].
SECTION 4. Sections 37.121(a) and (d), Education Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) A person commits an offense if the person:
(1) is a member of, pledges to become a member of,
joins, or solicits another person to join or pledge to become a
member of a public school fraternity, sorority, or secret society[,
or gang]; or
(2) is not enrolled in a public school and solicits
another person to attend a meeting of a public school fraternity,
sorority, or secret society[, or gang] or a meeting at which
membership in one of those groups is encouraged.
(d) In this section, "public school fraternity, sorority,
or secret society[, or gang]" means an organization composed wholly
or in part of students of public primary or secondary schools that
seeks to perpetuate itself by taking in additional members from the
students enrolled in school on the basis of the decision of its
membership rather than on the free choice of a student in the school
who is qualified by the rules of the school to fill the special aims
of the organization. The term does not include an agency for public
welfare, including Boy Scouts, Hi-Y, Girl Reserves, DeMolay,
Rainbow Girls, Pan-American Clubs, scholarship societies, or other
similar educational organizations sponsored by state or national
education authorities.
SECTION 5. Section 22.06, Penal Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 22.06. CONSENT AS DEFENSE TO ASSAULTIVE CONDUCT. (a)
The victim's effective consent or the actor's reasonable belief
that the victim consented to the actor's conduct is a defense to
prosecution under Section 22.01 (Assault), 22.02 (Aggravated
Assault), or 22.05 (Deadly Conduct) if:
(1) the conduct did not threaten or inflict serious
bodily injury; or
(2) the victim knew the conduct was a risk of:
(A) his occupation;
(B) recognized medical treatment; or
(C) a scientific experiment conducted by
recognized methods.
(b) The defense to prosecution provided by Subsection (a) is
not available to a defendant who:
(1) is a member of a criminal street gang, as defined
by Section 71.01; and
(2) commits an offense described by Subsection (a) as
a condition of the defendant's or the victim's initiation or
continued membership in the criminal street gang in a place that the
defendant knows is:
(A) within 300 feet of the premises of a private
or public elementary or secondary school; or
(B) on premises where:
(i) an official school function is taking
place; or
(ii) an event sponsored or sanctioned by
the University Interscholastic League is taking place.
SECTION 6. Chapter 71, Penal Code, is amended by adding
Section 71.025 to read as follows:
Sec. 71.025. GANG-FREE SCHOOL ZONE. (a) This section
applies to conduct that occurs in a place that the actor knows is:
(1) within 300 feet of the premises of a private or
public elementary or secondary school; or
(2) on premises where:
(A) an official school function is taking place;
or
(B) an event sponsored or sanctioned by the
University Interscholastic League is taking place.
(b) A person commits an offense if the person:
(1) is a member of a criminal street gang; and
(2) engages in any conduct in a place described by
Subsection (a) that a reasonable person would believe is a
manifestation of membership in a criminal street gang.
(c) An offense under this section is a Class C misdemeanor.
(d) If conduct that constitutes an offense under this
section also constitutes an offense under another law, the person
may be prosecuted under this section, the other law, or both.
SECTION 7. This Act applies beginning with the 2006-2007
school year.
SECTION 8. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect on the 91st day after the last day of the
legislative session.