By: Springer, Menéndez S.B. No. 2610
 
 
 
   
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the prosecution of the offense of official oppression.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 39.03, Penal Code, is amended by
  amending Subsections (a) and (d) and adding Subsection (e) to read
  as follows:
         (a)  A public servant acting under color of the public
  servant's [his] office or employment commits an offense if the
  public servant [he]:
               (1)  intentionally subjects another to mistreatment or
  to arrest, detention, search, seizure, dispossession, assessment,
  or lien that the public servant [he] knows is unlawful;
               (2)  intentionally denies or impedes another in the
  exercise or enjoyment of any right, privilege, power, or immunity,
  knowing the public servant's [his] conduct is unlawful; [or]
               (3)  intentionally subjects another to sexual
  harassment; or
               (4)  directly provides an alcoholic beverage to a
  legislative employee or intern who is younger than 21 years of age.
         (d)  An offense under Subsection (a)(1), (2), or (3) [this
  section] is a Class A misdemeanor, except that the [an] offense is a
  felony of the third degree if the public servant acted with the
  intent to impair the accuracy of data reported to the Texas
  Education Agency through the Public Education Information
  Management System (PEIMS) described by Sections 48.008 and 48.009,
  Education Code, under a law requiring that reporting.
         (e)  An offense under Subsection (a)(4) is a Class A
  misdemeanor with a term of confinement of one year.
         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, 2023.