BILL ANALYSIS |
C.S.H.B. 1810 |
By: Dale |
Criminal Jurisprudence |
Committee Report (Substituted) |
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Interested parties contend that there is currently no disincentive for some criminals to possess or promote certain images portraying children depicted in a sexually suggestive manner. C.S.H.B. 1810 seeks to address this issue by creating the offense of possession or promotion of lewd visual material depicting a child.
|
||||||
CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT
It is the committee's opinion that this bill expressly does one or more of the following: creates a criminal offense, increases the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or changes the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.
|
||||||
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
|
||||||
ANALYSIS
C.S.H.B. 1810 amends the Penal Code to create the state jail felony offense of possession or promotion of lewd visual material depicting a child for a person who knowingly possesses, accesses with intent to view, or promotes visual material that depicts the lewd exhibition of the genitals or pubic area of an unclothed, partially clothed, or clothed child who is younger than 18 years of age at the time the visual material was created, that appeals to the prurient interest in sex, and that has no serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. The bill enhances the penalty to a third degree felony if it is shown on the trial of the offense that the person has been previously convicted one time of the offense under the bill's provisions or of an offense of possession or promotion of child pornography. The bill enhances the penalty to a second degree felony if it is shown on the trial of the offense that the person has been previously convicted two or more times of either such offense. The bill establishes that it is not a defense to prosecution for possession or promotion of lewd visual material depicting a child that the depicted child consented to the creation of the visual material.
|
||||||
EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2017.
|
||||||
COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.H.B. 1810 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and formatted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.
|
||||||
|