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A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
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AN ACT
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relating to the prosecution of and punishment for assaulting a |
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disabled individual; increasing a criminal penalty. |
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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SECTION 1. Section 22.021(b), Penal Code, is amended by |
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amending Subdivision (2) and adding Subdivision (3) to read as |
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follows: |
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(2) "Elderly individual" has [and "disabled
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individual" have] the meaning [meanings] assigned by Section |
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22.04(c). |
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(3) "Disabled individual" means a person older than 13 |
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years of age who by reason of age or physical or mental disease, |
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defect, or injury is substantially unable to protect the person's |
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self from harm or to provide food, shelter, or medical care for the |
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person's self. |
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SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only |
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to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act. |
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An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is |
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governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed, |
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and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For |
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purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the |
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effective date of this Act if any element of the offense was |
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committed before that date. |
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SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015. |