Bill Text: TX SB29 | 2011 | 82nd Legislature 1st Special | Engrossed
Bill Title: Relating to prosecution and punishment for the offense of official oppression by the intrusive touching of persons seeking access to public buildings and transportation; providing penalties.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 8-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2011-06-29 - Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal [SB29 Detail]
Download: Texas-2011-SB29-Engrossed.html
| By: Patrick, et al. | S.B. No. 29 | |
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| relating to prosecution and punishment for the offense of official | ||
| oppression by the intrusive touching of persons seeking access to | ||
| public buildings and transportation; providing penalties. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Section 39.03, Penal Code, is amended by | ||
| amending Subsections (a) and (b) and adding Subsections (c-1), | ||
| (c-2), and (c-3) to read as follows: | ||
| (a) A person who is a public servant [ |
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| (1) while acting under color of the person's office or | ||
| employment [ |
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| (A) [ |
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| to mistreatment or to arrest, detention, search, seizure, | ||
| dispossession, assessment, or lien that the actor [ |
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| unlawful; | ||
| (B) [ |
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| another person in the exercise or enjoyment of any right, | ||
| privilege, power, or immunity, knowing the actor's [ |
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| unlawful; or | ||
| (C) [ |
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| to sexual harassment; or | ||
| (2) while acting under color of the person's office or | ||
| employment without reasonable suspicion of the presence of an | ||
| unknown, unlawful, or prohibited object: | ||
| (A) performs a search without effective consent | ||
| for the purpose of granting access to a publicly accessible | ||
| building or form of transportation; and | ||
| (B) intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly | ||
| touches the anus, sexual organ, buttocks, or breast of the other | ||
| person, including touching through clothing. | ||
| (b) For purposes of this section, a person who is a public | ||
| servant acts under color of the person's [ |
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| if the person [ |
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| or takes advantage of such actual or purported capacity. | ||
| (c-1) For purposes of Subsection (a)(2), "public servant" | ||
| means: | ||
| (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 contract with a | ||
| branch, department, or agency of the United States for the purpose | ||
| of providing a security or law enforcement service; and | ||
| (2) any other person acting under color of federal | ||
| law. | ||
| (c-2) For purposes of Subsection (a)(2), and | ||
| notwithstanding Sections 1.07(a)(11) and (19), consent is | ||
| effective only if, immediately before any search: | ||
| (1) the actor verbally describes: | ||
| (A) the area of the other person to be searched; | ||
| and | ||
| (B) the method to be used in the search; and | ||
| (2) the actor receives express consent for the search | ||
| only from: | ||
| (A) the other person; or | ||
| (B) the parent or guardian of the other person. | ||
| (c-3) This section 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 section from judicial invalidation. | ||
| SECTION 2. (a) This section applies only to a prosecution | ||
| of an offense under Subdivision (2), Subsection (a), Section 39.03, | ||
| 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 Subdivision | ||
| (2), Subsection (a), Section 39.03, 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 takes effect on the 91st day after the | ||
| last day of the legislative session. | ||
