86R11127 ADM-D
 
  By: Perez H.B. No. 2624
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the prosecution of certain criminal offenses involving
  fraud.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Chapter 13, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
  amended by adding Article 13.291 to read as follows:
         Art. 13.291.  CREDIT CARD OR DEBIT CARD ABUSE. An offense
  under Section 32.31, Penal Code, may be prosecuted in any county in
  which the offense was committed or in the county of residence for
  any person whose credit card or debit card was unlawfully possessed
  or used by the defendant.
         SECTION 2.  Article 38.19, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
  amended to read as follows:
         Art. 38.19.  INTENT TO DEFRAUD: CERTAIN OFFENSES [IN
  FORGERY]. (a) This article applies to the trial of an offense under
  any of the following sections of the Penal Code:
               (1)  Section 32.21 (Forgery);
               (2)  Section 32.31 (Credit Card or Debit Card Abuse);
  or
               (3)  Section 32.51 (Fraudulent Use or Possession of
  Identifying Information).
         (b)  In the trial [trials] of an offense to which this
  article applies [forgery], the attorney representing the state is
  not required to prove [it need not be proved] that the defendant
  committed the act with intent to defraud any particular person. It
  is [shall be] sufficient to prove that the offense [forgery] was, in
  its nature, calculated to injure or defraud any of the
  sovereignties, bodies corporate or politic, officers or persons,
  named in the definition of the offense [forgery] in the Penal Code.
         SECTION 3.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
  to a criminal proceeding that commences on or after the effective
  date of this Act. A criminal proceeding that commenced before the
  effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the
  date the proceeding commenced, and the former law is continued in
  effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.