By: Rodriguez  S.B. No. 1712
         (In the Senate - Filed March 8, 2013; March 25, 2013, read
  first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
  May 9, 2013, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
  Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 4, Nays 3; May 9, 2013, sent
  to printer.)
 
  COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1712 By:  Rodriguez
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to the punishment for the offense of prostitution.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subsection (c), Section 43.02, Penal Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
         (c)  An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor,
  except that the offense is:
               (1)  a Class A misdemeanor if the defendant [actor] has
  previously been convicted one or two times of an offense under this
  section;
               (2)  for a defendant who received or was to receive a
  fee:
                     (A)  a Class A misdemeanor with a minimum term of
  confinement of 90 days if the defendant has previously been
  convicted three or more times but fewer than eight times of an
  offense under this section; or
                     (B)  a state jail felony if the defendant has
  previously been convicted eight or more times of an offense under
  this section; or
               (3)  for a defendant who paid or was to pay a fee:
                     (A)  a state jail felony if the defendant [actor]
  has previously been convicted three or more times of an offense
  under this section;
                     (B) [(3)]  a felony of the third degree if the
  person with respect to whom the fee was paid or to be paid 
  [solicited] is 14 years of age or older and younger than 18 years of
  age; or
                     (C) [(4)]  a felony of the second degree if the
  person with respect to whom the fee was paid or to be paid 
  [solicited] is younger than 14 years of age.
         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 on the date 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 occurred
  before that date.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.
 
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