85R8206 KJE-F
	By: Wilson	H.B. No. 3454

	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to increasing the punishment for certain offenses
	committed against a federal law enforcement officer or emergency
	services personnel.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Section 1.07(a), Penal Code, is amended by
	adding Subdivision (22-a) to read as follows:
	(22-a)  "Emergency services personnel" includes
	firefighters, emergency medical services personnel as defined by
	Section 773.003, Health and Safety Code, emergency
	room  personnel, and other individuals who, in the course and scope
	of employment or as a volunteer, provide services for the benefit of
	the general public during emergency situations.
	SECTION 2.  Section 19.03(a), Penal Code, is amended to read
	as follows:
	(a)  A person commits an offense if the person commits murder
	as defined under Section 19.02(b)(1) and:
	(1)  the person murders a peace officer or federal law
	enforcement officer [fireman] who is acting in the lawful discharge
	of an official duty and who the person knows is a peace officer or
	federal law enforcement officer [fireman];
	(2)  the person intentionally commits the murder in the
	course of committing or attempting to commit kidnapping, burglary,
	robbery, aggravated sexual assault, arson, obstruction or
	retaliation, or terroristic threat under Section 22.07(a)(1), (3),
	(4), (5), or (6);
	(3)  the person commits the murder for remuneration or
	the promise of remuneration or employs another to commit the murder
	for remuneration or the promise of remuneration;
	(4)  the person commits the murder while escaping or
	attempting to escape from a penal institution;
	(5)  the person, while incarcerated in a penal
	institution, murders another:
	(A)  who is employed in the operation of the penal
	institution; or
	(B)  with the intent to establish, maintain, or
	participate in a combination or in the profits of a combination;
	(6)  the person:
	(A)  while incarcerated for an offense under this
	section or Section 19.02, murders another; or
	(B)  while serving a sentence of life imprisonment
	or a term of 99 years for an offense under Section 20.04, 22.021, or
	29.03, murders another;
	(7)  the person murders more than one person:
	(A)  during the same criminal transaction; or
	(B)  during different criminal transactions but
	the murders are committed pursuant to the same scheme or course of
	conduct;
	(8)  the person murders an individual under 10 years of
	age; [or]
	(9)  the person murders another person in retaliation
	for or on account of the service or status of the other person as a
	judge or justice of the supreme court, the court of criminal
	appeals, a court of appeals, a district court, a criminal district
	court, a constitutional county court, a statutory county court, a
	justice court, or a municipal court; or
	(10)  the person murders an individual the person knows
	is emergency services personnel while the individual is providing
	emergency services.
	SECTION 3.  Section 20.02(c), Penal Code, is amended to read
	as follows:
	(c)  An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor,
	except that the offense is:
	(1)  a state jail felony if the person restrained was a
	child younger than 17 years of age; or
	(2)  a felony of the third degree if:
	(A)  the actor recklessly exposes the victim to a
	substantial risk of serious bodily injury;
	(B)  the actor restrains an individual the actor
	knows is a public servant or federal law enforcement officer while
	the public servant or officer is lawfully discharging an official
	duty or in retaliation or on account of an exercise of official
	power or performance of an official duty as a public servant or
	federal law enforcement officer;
	(C)  the actor restrains an individual the actor
	knows is emergency services personnel while the individual is
	providing emergency services; or
	(D) [(C)]  the actor while in custody restrains
	any other person.
	SECTION 4.  Sections 22.01(b) and (d), Penal Code, are
	amended to read as follows:
	(b)  An offense under Subsection (a)(1) is a Class A
	misdemeanor, except that the offense is a felony of the third degree
	if the offense is committed against:
	(1)  a person the actor knows is a public servant or
	federal law enforcement officer while the public servant or officer
	is lawfully discharging an official duty, or in retaliation or on
	account of an exercise of official power or performance of an
	official duty as a public servant or federal law enforcement
	officer;
	(2)  a person whose relationship to or association with
	the defendant is described by Section 71.0021(b), 71.003, or
	71.005, Family Code, if:
	(A)  it is shown on the trial of the offense that
	the defendant has been previously convicted of an offense under
	this chapter, Chapter 19, or Section 20.03, 20.04, 21.11, or 25.11
	against a person whose relationship to or association with the
	defendant is described by Section 71.0021(b), 71.003, or 71.005,
	Family Code; or
	(B)  the offense is committed by intentionally,
	knowingly, or recklessly impeding the normal breathing or
	circulation of the blood of the person by applying pressure to the
	person's throat or neck or by blocking the person's nose or mouth;
	(3)  a person who contracts with government to perform
	a service in a facility as defined by Section 1.07(a)(14), Penal
	Code, or Section 51.02(13) or (14), Family Code, or an employee of
	that person:
	(A)  while the person or employee is engaged in
	performing a service within the scope of the contract, if the actor
	knows the person or employee is authorized by government to provide
	the service; or
	(B)  in retaliation for or on account of the
	person's or employee's performance of a service within the scope of
	the contract;
	(4)  a person the actor knows is a security officer
	while the officer is performing a duty as a security officer; or
	(5)  a person the actor knows is emergency services
	personnel while the person is providing emergency services.
	(d)  For purposes of Subsection (b), the actor is presumed to
	have known the person assaulted was a public servant, a federal law
	enforcement officer, a security officer, or emergency services
	personnel if the person was wearing a distinctive uniform or badge
	indicating the person's employment as a public servant or federal
	law enforcement officer or status as a security officer or
	emergency services personnel.
	SECTION 5.  Sections 22.02(b) and (c), Penal Code, are
	amended to read as follows:
	(b)  An offense under this section is a felony of the second
	degree, except that the offense is a felony of the first degree if:
	(1)  the actor uses a deadly weapon during the
	commission of the assault and causes serious bodily injury to a
	person whose relationship to or association with the defendant is
	described by Section 71.0021(b), 71.003, or 71.005, Family Code;
	(2)  regardless of whether the offense is committed
	under Subsection (a)(1) or (a)(2), the offense is committed:
	(A)  by a public servant acting under color of the
	servant's office or employment;
	(B)  against a person the actor knows is a public
	servant or federal law enforcement officer while the public servant
	or officer is lawfully discharging an official duty, or in
	retaliation or on account of an exercise of official power or
	performance of an official duty as a public servant or federal law
	enforcement officer;
	(C)  in retaliation against or on account of the
	service of another as a witness, prospective witness, informant, or
	person who has reported the occurrence of a crime; [or]
	(D)  against a person the actor knows is a
	security officer while the officer is performing a duty as a
	security officer; or
	(E)  against a person the actor knows is emergency
	services personnel while the person is providing emergency
	services; or
	(3)  the actor is in a motor vehicle, as defined by
	Section 501.002, Transportation Code, and:
	(A)  knowingly discharges a firearm at or in the
	direction of a habitation, building, or vehicle;
	(B)  is reckless as to whether the habitation,
	building, or vehicle is occupied; and
	(C)  in discharging the firearm, causes serious
	bodily injury to any person.
	(c)  The actor is presumed to have known the person assaulted
	was a public servant, a federal law enforcement officer, [or] a
	security officer, or emergency services personnel if the person was
	wearing a distinctive uniform or badge indicating the person's
	employment as a public servant or federal law enforcement officer
	or status as a security officer or emergency services personnel.
	SECTION 6.  Section 22.07(c), Penal Code, is amended to read
	as follows:
	(c)  An offense under Subsection (a)(2) is a Class B
	misdemeanor, except that the offense is a Class A misdemeanor if the
	offense:
	(1)  is committed against a member of the person's
	family or household or otherwise constitutes family violence; or
	(2)  is committed against:
	(A)  a public servant;
	(B)  a person the actor knows is a federal law
	enforcement officer while the officer is lawfully discharging an
	official duty, or in retaliation or on account of an exercise of
	official power or performance of an official duty as a federal law
	enforcement officer; or
	(C)  a person the actor knows is emergency
	services personnel while the person is providing emergency
	services.
	SECTION 7.  Section 49.09(b-1), Penal Code, is amended to
	read as follows:
	(b-1)  An offense under Section 49.07 is a felony of the
	second degree if it is shown on the trial of the offense that the
	person caused serious bodily injury to a peace officer, a federal
	law enforcement officer [firefighter], or emergency [medical]
	services personnel while in the actual discharge of an official
	duty.
	SECTION 8.  Sections 22.01(e)(1) and 49.09(b-3), Penal Code,
	are repealed.
	SECTION 9.  The changes in law made by this Act apply 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 10.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.