By: Simpson	H.B. No. 80

	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to official oppression; creating offenses.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Section 39.03, Penal Code, is amended by
	amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c-1) to read as
	follows:
	(a)  A public servant acting under color of his office or
	employment commits an offense if he:
	(1)  intentionally subjects another to mistreatment or
	to arrest, detention, search, seizure, dispossession, assessment,
	or lien that he knows is unlawful;
	(2)  intentionally denies or impedes another in the
	exercise or enjoyment of any right, privilege, power, or immunity,
	knowing his conduct is unlawful; [or]
	(3)  intentionally subjects another to sexual
	harassment; or
	(4)  as part of a determination of whether to grant
	another person access to a publicly accessible venue or form of
	transportation, intentionally and without probable cause:
	(A)  touches the anus, breast, buttocks, or sexual
	organ of the other person, including touching through clothing;
	(B)  removes a child younger than 18 years of age
	from the physical custody or control of a parent or guardian of the
	child or a person standing in the stead of a parent or guardian of
	the child;
	(C)  otherwise engages in conduct constituting an
	offense under Section 22.01(a)(3); or
	(D)  harasses, delays, coerces, threatens,
	intimidates, or effectively denies or conditions access to the
	other person because of the other person's refusal to consent to
	(A), (B), or (C).
	(c-1)  For purposes of Subsection (a)(4), "public servant"
	includes:
	(1)  an officer, employee, or agent of:
	(A)  the United States;
	(B)  a branch, department, or agency of the United
	States; or
	(C)  another person acting under a contract with a
	branch, department, or agency of the United States to provide a
	security or law enforcement service; or
	(2)  any other person acting under color of federal
	law.
	SECTION 2.  (a)  This section applies only to a prosecution
	of an offense under Section 39.03(a)(4), Penal Code, as added by
	this Act, in which the defendant was, at the time of the alleged
	offense, acting under the color of federal law.
	(b)  In a prosecution described by Subsection (a) of this
	section, if the government of the United States, the defendant, or
	the defendant's employer challenges the validity of Section
	39.03(a)(4), Penal Code, as added by this Act, on grounds of
	unconstitutionality, preemption, or sovereign immunity, the
	attorney general of this state, with the consent of the appropriate
	local county or district attorney, shall take any actions necessary
	on behalf of the state to defend the validity of the statute.  The
	attorney general may make any legal arguments the attorney general
	considers appropriate, including that this Act constitutes a valid
	exercise of:
	(1)  the state's police powers;
	(2)  the liberty interests of the people that are
	secured by the United States Constitution;
	(3)  the powers reserved to the states by the Tenth
	Amendment to the United States Constitution; or
	(4)  the rights and protections secured by the Texas
	Constitution.
	SECTION 3.  This Act shall be construed, as a matter of state
	law, to be enforceable up to but no further than the maximum
	possible extent consistent with federal constitutional
	requirements, even if that construction is not readily apparent, as
	such constructions are authorized only to the extent necessary to
	save the statute from judicial invalidation.
	SECTION 4.  Every provision in this Act and every
	application of the provisions in this Act are severable from each
	other as a matter of state law.  If any application of any provision
	in this Act to any person or group of persons or circumstances is
	found by a court to be invalid, the remainder of this Act and the
	application of the Act's provisions to all other persons and
	circumstances may not be affected.  All constitutionally valid
	applications of this Act shall be severed from any applications
	that a court finds to be invalid, leaving the valid applications in
	force, because it is the legislature's intent and priority that the
	valid applications be allowed to stand alone.  Even if a reviewing
	court finds a provision of this Act invalid in a large or
	substantial fraction of relevant cases, the remaining valid
	applications shall be severed and allowed to remain in force.
	SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.