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Amend HB 1121 by adding the following appropriately numbered
sections to read as follows and renumber the subsequent sections
appropriately:
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 ____. Subsections (a) and (b), Section 20A.02, 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 ____. Subsection (f-1), Section 125.002, and
Subsection (a-1), Section 125.045, 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.