By: King	S.B. No. 1709

	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to the prosecution of the offenses of sedition and
	engaging in organized criminal activity; increasing criminal
	penalties.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Section 557.001, Government Code, is amended by
	amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (b-1) to read as
	follows:
	(a)  A person commits an offense if the person knowingly:
	(1)  commits, attempts to commit, or conspires with one
	or more persons to commit an act intended to overthrow,
	destabilize, destroy, or alter the constitutional form of
	government of this state or of any political subdivision of this
	state by force, [or] violence, or a threat of force or violence;
	(2)  under circumstances that constitute a clear and
	present danger to the security of this state or a political
	subdivision of this state, advocates, advises, or teaches or
	conspires with one or more persons to advocate, advise, or teach a
	person to commit or attempt to commit an act described in
	Subdivision (1); or
	(3)  participates, with knowledge of the nature of the
	organization, in the management of an organization that engages in
	or attempts to engage in an act intended to overthrow, destabilize,
	destroy, or alter the constitutional form of government of this
	state or of any political subdivision of this state by force or
	violence.
	(b-1)  Notwithstanding Section 15.02(d), Penal Code, a
	conspiracy to commit an offense under this section is punishable in
	the same manner as an offense under this section.
	SECTION 2.  Section 71.02, Penal Code, is amended to read as
	follows:
	Sec. 71.02.  ENGAGING IN ORGANIZED CRIMINAL ACTIVITY. (a)  A
	person commits an offense if, with the intent to establish,
	maintain, or participate in a combination or in the profits of a
	combination or as a member of a criminal street gang or
	transnational criminal organization, the person commits or
	conspires to commit one or more of the following:
	(1)  murder, capital murder, arson, aggravated
	robbery, robbery, burglary, theft, aggravated kidnapping,
	kidnapping, aggravated assault, aggravated sexual assault, sexual
	assault, continuous sexual abuse of young child or disabled
	individual, solicitation of a minor, forgery, deadly conduct,
	assault punishable as a Class A misdemeanor, burglary of a motor
	vehicle, or unauthorized use of a motor vehicle;
	(2)  any gambling offense punishable as a Class A
	misdemeanor;
	(3)  promotion of prostitution, aggravated promotion
	of prostitution, or compelling prostitution;
	(4)  unlawful manufacture, transportation, repair, or
	sale of firearms or prohibited weapons;
	(5)  unlawful manufacture, delivery, dispensation, or
	distribution of, or unlawful possession with the intent to deliver
	a controlled substance or dangerous drug, or unlawful possession of
	a controlled substance or dangerous drug through forgery, fraud,
	misrepresentation, or deception;
	(5-a) causing the unlawful delivery, dispensation, or
	distribution of a controlled substance or dangerous drug in
	violation of Subtitle B, Title 3, Occupations Code;
	(6)  any unlawful wholesale promotion or possession of
	any obscene material or obscene device with the intent to wholesale
	promote the same;
	(7)  any offense under Subchapter B, Chapter 43,
	depicting or involving conduct by or directed toward a child
	younger than 18 years of age;
	(8)  any felony offense under Chapter 32;
	(9)  any offense under Chapter 36;
	(10)  any offense under Chapter 34, 35, or 35A;
	(11)  any offense under Section 37.11(a);
	(12)  any offense under Chapter 20A;
	(13)  any offense under Section 37.10;
	(14)  any offense under Section 38.06, 38.07, 38.09, or
	38.11;
	(15)  any offense under Section 42.10;
	(16)  any offense under Section 46.06(a)(1) or 46.14;
	(17)  any offense under Section 20.05 or 20.06;
	(18)  any offense under Section 16.02; or
	(19)  any offense classified as a felony under the Tax
	Code.
	(b)  Except as provided in Subsections (c), [and] (d), and
	(e), an offense under this section is one category higher than the
	most serious offense listed in Subsection (a) that was committed,
	and if the most serious offense is a Class A misdemeanor, the
	offense is a state jail felony, except that the offense is a felony
	of the first degree punishable by imprisonment in the Texas
	Department of Criminal Justice for:
	(1)  life without parole, if the most serious offense
	is an aggravated sexual assault and if at the time of that offense
	the defendant is 18 years of age or older and:
	(A)  the victim of the offense is younger than six
	years of age;
	(B)  the victim of the offense is younger than 14
	years of age and the actor commits the offense in a manner described
	by Section 22.021(a)(2)(A); or
	(C)  the victim of the offense is younger than 17
	years of age and suffered serious bodily injury as a result of the
	offense;
	(2)  life or for any term of not more than 99 years or
	less than 30 years if the most serious offense is an offense under
	Section 20.06 that is punishable under Subsection (g) of that
	section; or
	(3)  life or for any term of not more than 99 years or
	less than 15 years if the most serious offense is an offense
	punishable as a felony of the first degree, other than an offense
	described by Subdivision (1) or (2).
	(c)  Notwithstanding Section 15.02(d), a conspiracy
	[Conspiring] to commit an offense under this section is punishable
	in [is of] the same manner as an offense under this section [degree
	as the most serious offense listed in Subsection (a) that the person
	conspired to commit].
	(d)  At the punishment stage of a trial, the defendant may
	raise the issue as to whether in voluntary and complete
	renunciation of the offense he withdrew from the combination before
	commission of an offense listed in Subsection (a) and made
	substantial effort to prevent the commission of the offense.  If the
	defendant proves the issue in the affirmative by a preponderance of
	the evidence the offense is the same category of offense as the most
	serious offense listed in Subsection (a) that is committed[, unless
	the defendant is convicted of conspiring to commit the offense, in
	which event the offense is one category lower than the most serious
	offense that the defendant conspired to commit].
	(e)  An offense that is punishable as a second degree felony
	or as any lower category of offense under Subsection (b) is one
	additional category higher than the category listed under
	Subsection (b) if the person used or exhibited a deadly weapon
	during the commission of one or more of the offenses listed under
	Subsection (a) and if an offense is punishable as a Class A
	misdemeanor under Subsection (b), the offense is a state jail
	felony.
	(f)  In this section, "transnational criminal organization"
	means two or more persons with an identifiable leadership who
	operate internationally and who continuously or regularly
	associate to engage in corruption, violence, or the commission of
	other criminal activities.
	SECTION 3.  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 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.