Texas
Stalking by Electronic Communications - SB1139
Signed by the governor June 15, 2001. Effective September 1, 2001.
AN ACT relating to the prosecution of and punishment for the offenses of harassment and stalking.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 42.07, Penal Code, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 42.07. HARASSMENT.
A person commits an offense if, with intent to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment, or embarrass another, he:
initiates communication by telephone, in writing, or by electronic communication and in the course of the communication makes a comment, request, suggestion, or proposal that is obscene;
threatens, by telephone, in writing, or by electronic communication, 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 his family or household, or his property;
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;
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;
makes a telephone call and intentionally fails to hang up or disengage the connection;
knowingly permits a telephone under the person's control to be used by another to commit an offense under this section; or
sends repeated electronic communications in a manner reasonably likely to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment, embarrass, or offend another.
In this section:
"Electronic communication" means a transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data, or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectronic, or photo-optical system. The term includes:
a communication initiated by electronic mail, instant message, network call, or facsimile machine; and
a communication made to a pager.
"Family" and "household" have the meaning assigned by Chapter 71, Family Code.
"Obscene" means containing a patently offensive description of or a solicitation to commit an ultimate sex act, including sexual intercourse, masturbation, cunnilingus, fellatio, or anilingus, or a description of an excretory function.
An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor, except that the offense is a Class A misdemeanor if the actor has previously been convicted under this section.
SECTION 2. Subsection (b), Section 42.072, Penal Code, is amended to read as follows:
An offense under this section is a felony of the third degree, except that the offense is a felony of the second degree if the actor has previously been convicted under this section.
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. For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs before the effective date.
An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
