By: Watson S.B. No. 1649
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to increasing the punishment for certain conduct
  constituting the offense of criminal trespass.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 30.05(b), Penal Code, is amended by
  adding Subdivision (12) to read as follows:
               (12)  "Institution of higher education" has the meaning
  assigned by Section 61.003, Education Code.
         SECTION 2.  Section 30.05, Penal Code, is amended by
  amending Subsection (d) and adding Subsection (d-1) to read as
  follows:
         (d)  An offense under this section is:
               (1)  a Class B misdemeanor, except as provided by
  Subdivisions (2) and (3);
               (2)  a Class C misdemeanor, except as provided by
  Subdivision (3), if the offense is committed:
                     (A)  on agricultural land and within 100 feet of
  the boundary of the land; or
                     (B)  on residential land and within 100 feet of a
  protected freshwater area; and
               (3)  a Class A misdemeanor if:
                     (A)  the offense is committed:
                           (i)  in a habitation or a shelter center;
                           (ii)  on a Superfund site; or
                           (iii)  on or in a critical infrastructure
  facility; [or]
                     (B)  the offense is committed on or in property of
  an institution of higher education and it is shown on the trial of
  the offense that the person has previously been convicted of:
                           (i)  an offense under this section relating
  to entering or remaining on or in property of an institution of
  higher education; or
                           (ii)  an offense under Section 51.204(b)(1),
  Education Code, relating to trespassing on the grounds of an
  institution of higher education; or
                     (C)  the person carries a deadly weapon during the
  commission of the offense.
         (d-1)  For the purposes of Subsection (d)(3)(B), a person has
  previously been convicted of an offense described by that paragraph
  if the person was adjudged guilty of the offense or entered a plea
  of guilty or nolo contendere in return for a grant of deferred
  adjudication community supervision, regardless of whether the
  sentence for the offense was ever imposed or whether the sentence
  was probated and the person was subsequently discharged from
  deferred adjudication community supervision.
         SECTION 3.  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 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.