By: Huffman  S.B. No. 530
         (In the Senate - Filed January 29, 2021; March 11, 2021,
  read first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;
  April 19, 2021, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 5,
  Nays 0; April 19, 2021, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to the prosecution and punishment of the criminal offense
  of harassment; creating a criminal offense.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 42.07, Penal Code, is amended by
  amending Subsections (a) and (c) and adding Subsection (d) to read
  as follows:
         (a)  A person commits an offense if, with intent to harass,
  annoy, alarm, abuse, torment, or embarrass another, the person:
               (1)  initiates communication and in the course of the
  communication makes a comment, request, suggestion, or proposal
  that is obscene;
               (2)  threatens, in a manner reasonably likely to alarm
  the person receiving the threat, to inflict bodily injury on the
  person or to commit a felony against the person, a member of the
  person's family or household, or the person's property;
               (3)  conveys, in a manner reasonably likely to alarm
  the person receiving the report, a false report, which is known by
  the conveyor to be false, that another person has suffered death or
  serious bodily injury;
               (4)  causes the telephone of another to ring repeatedly
  or makes repeated telephone communications anonymously or in a
  manner reasonably likely to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment,
  embarrass, or offend another;
               (5)  makes a telephone call and intentionally fails to
  hang up or disengage the connection;
               (6)  knowingly permits a telephone under the person's
  control to be used by another to commit an offense under this
  section; [or]
               (7)  sends repeated electronic communications in a
  manner reasonably likely to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment,
  embarrass, or offend another; or
               (8)  publishes on an Internet website, including a
  social media platform, repeated electronic communications in a
  manner reasonably likely to cause emotional distress, abuse, or
  torment to another person, unless the communications are made in
  connection with a matter of public concern.
         (c)  An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor,
  except that the offense is a Class A misdemeanor if:
               (1)  the actor has previously been convicted under this
  section; or
               (2)  the offense was committed under Subsection (a)(7)
  or (8) and:
                     (A)  the offense was committed against a child
  under 18 years of age with the intent that the child:
                           (i)  commit suicide; or
                           (ii)  engage in conduct causing serious
  bodily injury to the child; or
                     (B)  the actor has previously violated a temporary
  restraining order or injunction issued under Chapter 129A, Civil
  Practice and Remedies Code.
         (d)  In this section, "matter of public concern" has the
  meaning assigned by Section 27.001, Civil Practice and Remedies
  Code.
         SECTION 2.  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 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.
 
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