BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 888

By: Landgraf

State Affairs

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

It has been suggested that, despite ongoing efforts to combat human trafficking, there are still a large number of child victims who are trafficked through ports of entry when their captors misrepresent them as family members and prevent them from seeking help from law enforcement. H.B. 888 addresses this issue by creating a criminal offense of misrepresenting a person younger than 18 years of age as a family member at a port of entry.

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

H.B. 888 amends the Penal Code to create a Class B misdemeanor offense for a person who, with intent to deceive, knowingly misrepresents a person younger than 18 years of age as a family member of the person to a peace officer or federal special investigator at a port of entry. The bill authorizes the prosecution of an actor for an offense under the bill's provisions, under another law, or under both the bill's provisions and the other law if the actor's conduct constituting that offense under the bill's provisions also constitutes an offense under the other law.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2019.