80R3852 SLO-F

By: Otto, Garcia H.B. No. 872

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the prosecution of and punishment for the offense of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 37.09, Penal Code, is amended by amending Subsections (c) and (d) and adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:

(c) An offense under Subsection (a) or Subsection (d)(1) is a felony of the third degree, unless the thing altered, destroyed, or concealed is a human corpse, in which case the offense is a felony of the second degree. An offense under Subsection (d)(2) is a Class A misdemeanor.

(d) A person commits an offense if the person:

(1) knowing that an offense has been committed, alters, destroys, or conceals any record, document, or thing with intent to impair its verity, legibility, or availability as evidence in any subsequent investigation of or official proceeding related to the offense; or

(2) observes a human corpse [remains] under circumstances in which a reasonable person would believe that an offense had been committed, knows or reasonably should know that a law enforcement agency is not aware of the existence of or location of the corpse [remains], and fails to report the existence of and location of the corpse [remains] to a law enforcement agency.

(e) In this section, "human corpse" has the meaning assigned by Section 42.08.

SECTION 2. 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 governed by the law in effect at the time 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.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2007.