BILL ANALYSIS |
C.S.S.B. 482 |
By: Alvarado |
Criminal Jurisprudence |
Committee Report (Substituted) |
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
The bill sponsor has informed the committee that, after Hurricane Beryl and other recent natural disasters, media reports highlighted the threats, harassment, and assaults that utility workers faced in their vital work to restore power and critical services to Texas residents impacted by those disasters. While certain assault conduct is enhanced if committed against individuals performing law enforcement duties or against hospital personnel, there is no specific assault enhancement that applies to utility workers. C.S.S.B. 482 seeks to address this issue by providing penalty enhancements for assault or harassment committed against certain employees or agents of a utility.
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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.
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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.
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ANALYSIS
C.S.S.B. 482 amends the Penal Code to enhance the penalty for assault in which the actor intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causes bodily injury to another from a Class A misdemeanor to a third degree felony if the offense is committed against a person the actor knows or reasonably should know is an employee or agent of a utility while the person is performing a duty within the scope of that employment or agency. The bill establishes that, for purposes of the enhancement, the actor is presumed to have known the person assaulted was an employee or agent of a utility if the person was wearing a distinctive uniform or badge indicating the person's employment, agency, or status, as applicable.
C.S.S.B. 482 enhances the penalty for harassment from a Class B misdemeanor to a Class A misdemeanor if the offense was committed against a person the actor knows or reasonably should know is an employee or agent of a utility while the person is performing a duty within the scope of that employment or agency.
C.S.S.B. 482 defines "utility," for the purposes of assault and harassment offenses, as the following: · an electric utility, telecommunications provider, cable service provider or video service provider, or electric cooperative or municipally owned utility, as defined by the Public Utility Regulatory Act; · a gas utility, as defined by the Gas Utility Regulatory Act and including a municipally owned utility as defined by that act; · a gas utility, as defined by statutory provisions relating to gas pipelines; or · a pipeline used for the transportation or sale of oil, gas, or related products.
C.S.S.B. 482 applies only to an offense committed on or after the bill's effective date. An offense committed before that date 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.
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EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2025.
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COMPARISON OF SENATE ENGROSSED AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.S.B. 482 may differ from the engrossed in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the engrossed and committee substitute versions of the bill.
The substitute includes a provision absent from the engrossed establishing that the actor is presumed to have known that the person assaulted was an employee or agent of a utility if the person was wearing a distinctive uniform or badge indicating the person's employment, agency, or status, as applicable.
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