false emergency reports at schools become a third-degree felony

The text as introduced · 337 words

89R2964 MZM-D

By: Landgraf
H.B. No. 268

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to increasing the criminal penalty for making certain

false reports and to restitution for emergency response costs

associated with those false reports.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Article 42.037(w), Code of Criminal Procedure,

is amended to read as follows:

(w) If a defendant is convicted of an offense under Section

42.0601, Penal Code, or an offense punishable under Section

42.06(b)(2), Penal Code, the court may order the defendant to make

restitution to an entity for the reasonable costs of the emergency

response by that entity resulting from the false report.

SECTION 2. Section 42.06(b), Penal Code, is amended to read

as follows:

(b) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor ,

except that the offense is:

(1) a state jail felony if [ unless ] the false report is

of an emergency involving [ a public or private institution of

higher education or involving a public primary or secondary

school, ] public communications, public transportation, public

water, gas, or power supply or other public service ; or

(2) a felony of the third degree if the false report is

of an emergency involving:

(A) a public or private institution of higher

education; or

(B) a public or private primary or secondary

school [ , in which event the offense is a state jail felony ].

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 was

committed before that date.

SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.