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.