H.B. No. 3490

	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.  Sections 42.07(a) and (c), Penal Code, are
	amended 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 harass, abuse, or torment another
	person.
	(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.
	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, 2019.
	______________________________	______________________________
	President of the Senate	Speaker of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 3490 was passed by the House on May
	10, 2019, by the following vote:  Yeas 101, Nays 34, 1 present, not
	voting.
	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 3490 was passed by the Senate on May
	21, 2019, by the following vote:  Yeas 29, Nays 2.
	______________________________
	Secretary of the Senate
	APPROVED:  _____________________
	Date
	_____________________
	Governor