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A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
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AN ACT
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relating to the prosecution of the offense of online solicitation |
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of a minor. |
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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SECTION 1. Section 33.021(a), Penal Code, is amended by |
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adding Subdivisions (1-a) and (1-b) to read as follows: |
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(1-a) "Patently offensive" has the meaning assigned by |
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Section 43.21. |
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(1-b) "Sexual conduct" has the meaning assigned by |
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Section 43.25. |
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SECTION 2. Section 33.021(b), Penal Code, is amended to |
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read as follows: |
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(b) A person who is 17 years of age or older commits an |
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offense if, with the intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire |
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of any person, the person, over the Internet, by electronic mail or |
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text message or other electronic message service or system, or |
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through a commercial online service, intentionally: |
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(1) expresses to [communicates in a sexually explicit
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manner with] a minor that the actor intends to engage in sexual |
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contact, sexual intercourse, or deviate sexual intercourse with the |
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minor; or |
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(2) sends [distributes sexually explicit material to] |
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a minor a communication that: |
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(A) the average person, applying contemporary |
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community standards, would find that taken as a whole appeals to a |
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prurient interest harmful to minors; |
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(B) depicts or describes patently offensive |
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representations or descriptions of sexual conduct; and |
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(C) taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, |
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artistic, political, and scientific value. |
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SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only |
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to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act. |
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An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is |
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governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed, |
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and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For |
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purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the |
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effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred |
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before that date. |
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SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015. |