Amend SB 11 (House Committee Printing) by adding the
following appropriately numbered SECTIONS to the bill and
renumbering the subsequent SECTIONS accordingly:
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 employment for legal labor or services and conduct that
constitutes an offense under Chapter 43 or Section 48.02, that are
performed or provided by another person and obtained or maintained
through an actor's:
(A) using force against the person or another
person, 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 the person or another person
[another] 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) destroying or withholding from another the
person's:
(i) actual or purported government records;
(ii) actual or purported 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; 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, solicit, 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 that the
actor 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
Chapter 43 [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 ____. The changes in law made by this Act to Sections
20A.01 and 20A.02, Penal Code, apply only to an offense committed on
or after September 1, 2007. An offense committed before September
1, 2007, 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 September 1, 2007, if any element of the offense occurs
before that date.