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Amend CSHB 13 by adding the following appropriately numbered
SECTIONS to the bill and renumbering subsequent SECTIONS of the
bill appropriately:
SECTION ___. Chapter 42, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Article 42.0191 to read as follows:
Art. 42.0191. FINDING REGARDING VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING OR
OTHER ABUSE. (a) In the trial of an offense, on the motion of the
attorney representing the state the judge shall make an affirmative
finding of fact and enter the affirmative finding in the papers in
the case if the judge determines that, regardless of whether the
conduct at issue is the subject of the prosecution or part of the
same criminal episode as the conduct that is the subject of the
prosecution, a victim in the trial:
(1) is or has been a victim of a severe form of
trafficking in persons, as defined by 22 U.S.C. Section 7102(8); or
(2) has suffered substantial physical or mental abuse
as a result of having been a victim of criminal activity described
by 8 U.S.C. Section 1101(a)(15)(U)(iii).
(b) That part of the papers in the case containing an
affirmative finding under this article:
(1) must include specific information identifying the
victim, as available;
(2) may not include information identifying the
victim's location; and
(3) is confidential, unless written consent for the
release of the affirmative finding is obtained from the victim or,
if the victim is younger than 18 years of age, the victim's parent
or guardian.
SECTION ___. Section 5, Article 42.12, Code of Criminal
Procedure, is amended by adding Subsections (i) and (j) to read as
follows:
(i) If a judge places on community supervision under this
section a defendant charged with an offense, on the motion of the
attorney representing the state the judge shall make an affirmative
finding of fact and file a statement of that affirmative finding in
the papers in the case if the judge determines that, regardless of
whether the conduct at issue is the subject of the prosecution or
part of the same criminal episode as the conduct that is the subject
of the prosecution, a victim in the trial:
(1) is or has been a victim of a severe form of
trafficking in persons, as defined by 22 U.S.C. Section 7102(8); or
(2) has suffered substantial physical or mental abuse
as a result of having been a victim of criminal activity described
by 8 U.S.C. Section 1101(a)(15)(U)(iii).
(j) That part of the papers in the case containing an
affirmative finding under Subsection (i):
(1) must include specific information identifying the
victim, as available;
(2) may not include information identifying the
victim's location; and
(3) is confidential, unless written consent for the
release of the affirmative finding is obtained from the victim or,
if the victim is younger than 18 years of age, the victim's parent
or guardian.
SECTION ___. Section 54.04, Family Code, is amended by
adding Subsections (v) and (w) to read as follows:
(v) If the judge orders a disposition under this section for
delinquent conduct based on a violation of an offense, on the motion
of the attorney representing the state the judge shall make an
affirmative finding of fact and enter the affirmative finding in
the papers in the case if the judge determines that, regardless of
whether the conduct at issue is the subject of the prosecution or
part of the same criminal episode as the conduct that is the subject
of the prosecution, a victim in the trial:
(1) is or has been a victim of a severe form of
trafficking in persons, as defined by 22 U.S.C. Section 7102(8); or
(2) has suffered substantial physical or mental abuse
as a result of having been a victim of criminal activity described
by 8 U.S.C. Section 1101(a)(15)(U)(iii).
(w) That part of the papers in the case containing an
affirmative finding under Subsection (v):
(1) must include specific information identifying the
victim, as available;
(2) may not include information identifying the
victim's location; and
(3) is confidential, unless written consent for the
release of the affirmative finding is obtained from the victim or,
if the victim is younger than 18 years of age, the victim's parent
or guardian.
SECTION ___. Section 20A.01, Penal Code, is amended to read
as follows:
Sec. 20A.01. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Forced labor or services" means labor or
services, including conduct that constitutes an offense under
Section 43.02, that are performed or provided by another person and
obtained through an actor's:
(A) causing or threatening to cause bodily injury
to the person or another person or otherwise causing the person
performing or providing labor or services to believe that the
person or another person will suffer bodily injury;
(B) restraining or threatening to restrain the
person or another person in a manner described by Section 20.01(1)
or causing the person performing or providing labor or services to
believe that the person or another person will be restrained; [or]
(C) knowingly destroying, concealing, removing,
confiscating, or withholding from the person or another person, or
threatening to destroy, conceal, remove, confiscate, or withhold
from the person or another person, the person's actual or
purported:
(i) government records;
(ii) identifying information; or
(iii) personal property;
(D) threatening the person with abuse of the law
or the legal process in relation to the person or another person;
(E) threatening to report the person or another
person to immigration officials or other law enforcement officials
or otherwise blackmailing or extorting the person or another
person;
(F) exerting financial control over the person or
another person by placing the person or another person under the
actor's control as security for a debt to the extent that:
(i) the value of the services provided by
the person or another person as reasonably assessed is not applied
toward the liquidation of the debt;
(ii) the duration of the services provided
by the person or another person is not limited and the nature of the
services provided by the person or another person is not defined; or
(iii) the principal amount of the debt does
not reasonably reflect the value of the items or services for which
the debt was incurred; or
(G) using any scheme, plan, or pattern intended
to cause the person to believe that the person or another person
will be subjected to serious harm or restraint if the person does
not perform or provide the labor or services.
(2) "Traffic" means to transport, [another person or
to] entice, recruit, harbor, provide, or otherwise obtain another
person by any means [for transport by deception, coercion, or
force].
SECTION ___. Sections 20A.02(a) and (b), Penal Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) A person commits an offense if the person:
(1) knowingly traffics another person with the intent
or knowledge that the trafficked person will engage in[:
[(1)] forced labor or services; or
(2) intentionally or knowingly benefits from
participating in a venture that involves an activity described by
Subdivision (1), including by receiving labor or services the
person knows are forced labor or services [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 applicable conduct constitutes an offense
under Section 43.02 [offense is committed under Subsection (a)(2)]
and the person who is trafficked is younger than 18 [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.
SECTION ___. Section 125.002, Civil Practice and Remedies
Code, is amended by adding Subsection (f-1) to read as follows:
(f-1) If the defendant required to execute the bond is a
hotel, motel, or similar establishment that rents overnight lodging
to the public and the alleged common nuisance is under Section
125.0015(a)(6) or (7), the bond must also be conditioned that the
defendant will, in each of the defendant's lodging units on the
premises that are the subject of the suit, post in a conspicuous
place near the room rate information required to be posted under
Section 2155.001, Occupations Code, an operating toll-free
telephone number of a nationally recognized information and
referral hotline for victims of human trafficking.
SECTION ___. Section 125.045, Civil Practice and Remedies
Code, is amended by adding Subsection (a-1) to read as follows:
(a-1) If the defendant required to execute the bond is a
hotel, motel, or similar establishment that rents overnight lodging
to the public and the alleged common nuisance is under Section
125.0015(a)(6) or (7), the bond must also be conditioned that the
defendant will, in each of the defendant's lodging units on the
premises that are the subject of the suit, post in a conspicuous
place near the room rate information required to be posted under
Section 2155.001, Occupations Code, an operating toll-free
telephone number of a nationally recognized information and
referral hotline for victims of human trafficking.
SECTION ___. (a) Not later than September 1, 2008, the
attorney general, in consultation with the Health and Human
Services Commission, shall prepare and issue a report:
(1) outlining how existing laws and rules concerning
victims and witnesses address or fail to address the needs of
victims of human trafficking; and
(2) recommending areas of improvement and
modifications in existing laws and rules.
(b) Not later than September 1, 2008, the Health and Human
Services Commission, in consultation with the attorney general,
shall prepare and issue a report:
(1) outlining how existing social service programs
address or fail to address the needs of victims of human
trafficking;
(2) with respect to those needs, outlining the
interplay of existing social service programs with federally funded
victim service programs; and
(3) recommending areas of improvement and
modifications in existing social service programs.
SECTION ___. Sections 20A.01 and 20A.02, Penal Code, as
amended by this Act, apply 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 governed 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 is committed
before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense
occurs before the effective date.
SECTION ___. Section 125.002(f-1) and Section
125.045(a-1), Civil Practice and Remedies Code, as added by this
Act, apply only to a suit filed on or after the effective date of
this Act. A suit filed before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect immediately before that date, and that
law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION ___. The change in law made by this Act in adding
Article 42.0191, Code of Criminal Procedure, Sections 5(i) and (j),
Article 42.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, and Sections 54.04(v)
and (w), Family Code, applies only to a judgment of conviction
entered on or after the effective date of this Act, a grant of
deferred adjudication made on or after the effective date of this
Act, or a disposition of delinquent conduct made on or after the
effective date of this Act.