| TO: | Honorable John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice |
| FROM: | John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | SB1003 by Harris (Relating to areas of an airport where weapons are prohibited; providing a penalty.), As Introduced |
This bill would amend the Penal Code to include areas deemed restricted at airports among the areas where weapons are prohibited. The bill defines a restricted area as an area of an airport where aircraft movement and support activities occur, and enclosed airport land adjacent to such area, to which ingress is permitted only by specific authorization of the airport operator. The bill would also remove the defenses to prosecution for a member of the armed forces, national guard, security officer, or a guard employed by a penal institution who carries a weapon in or into a secured or restricted area of an airport while traveling to or from their place of assignment or in discharge of duty. The bill would also reduce unlawful carrying of a weapon in a prohibited place from a felony of the third degree to a Class A Misdemeanor.
The bill would take effect September 1, 2007.
| Source Agencies: | 696 Department of Criminal Justice
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| LBB Staff: | JOB, KJG, ES, GG, LM
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