87R10963 TYPED
 
  By: Klick H.B. No. 9
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the criminal punishment and conditions of community
  supervision for the offense of obstructing a highway or other
  passageway; increasing a criminal penalty.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter K, Chapter 42A, Code of Criminal
  Procedure, is amended by adding Article 42A.517 to read as follows:
         Art. 42A.517.  COMMUNITY SUPERVISION FOR CERTAIN OFFENSES
  INVOLVING OBSTRUCTION OF HIGHWAY OR OTHER PASSAGEWAY. A court
  granting community supervision to a defendant convicted of an
  offense punishable as a state jail felony under Section 42.03,
  Penal Code, shall require as a condition of community supervision
  that the defendant submit to not less than 10 days of confinement in
  a county jail.
         SECTION 2.  Section 42.03(c), Penal Code, is amended to read
  as follows:
         (c)  An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor,
  except that the offense is a state jail felony if, in committing the
  offense, the actor knowingly:
               (1)  prevents the passage of an authorized emergency
  vehicle, as defined by Section 541.201, Transportation Code, that
  is operating the vehicle's emergency audible or visual signals; or
               (2)  obstructs access to a hospital licensed under
  Chapter 241, Health and Safety Code, or other health care facility
  that provides emergency medical care, as defined by Section
  773.003, Health and Safety Code.
         SECTION 3.  The changes in law made by this Act apply 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 when 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, 2021.