Text of TX HB 1747 (2015)

84R5846 LED-D By: Riddle H.B. No. 1747 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT relating to the prosecution of entry of a person into a public restroom designated for the opposite sex as disorderly conduct. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Section 42.01, Penal Code, is amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (h) and (i) to read as follows: (a) A person commits an offense if the person [he] intentionally or knowingly: (1) uses abusive, indecent, profane, or vulgar language in a public place, and the language by its very utterance tends to incite an immediate breach of the peace; (2) makes an offensive gesture or display in a public place, and the gesture or display tends to incite an immediate breach of the peace; (3) creates, by chemical means, a noxious and unreasonable odor in a public place; (4) abuses or threatens a person in a public place in an obviously offensive manner; (5) makes unreasonable noise in a public place other than a sport shooting range, as defined by Section 250.001, Local Government Code, or in or near a private residence that the person [he] has no right to occupy; (6) fights with another in a public place; (7) discharges a firearm in a public place other than a public road or a sport shooting range, as defined by Section 250.001, Local Government Code; (8) displays a firearm or other deadly weapon in a public place in a manner calculated to alarm; (9) discharges a firearm on or across a public road; (10) exposes the person's [his] anus or genitals in a public place and is reckless about whether another may be present who will be offended or alarmed by the [his] act; [or] (11) for a lewd or unlawful purpose: (A) enters on the property of another and looks into a dwelling on the property through any window or other opening in the dwelling; (B) while on the premises of a hotel or comparable establishment, looks into a guest room not the person's own through a window or other opening in the room; or (C) while on the premises of a public place, looks into an area such as a restroom or shower stall or changing or dressing room that is designed to provide privacy to a person using the area; or (12) enters a public restroom that is designated by a sign for members of the opposite sex of the actor. (h) For the purpose of Subsection (a)(12), a person's sex is the sex listed on the person's driver's license or personal identification card issued by this state or another state. (i) It is a defense to prosecution under Subsection (a)(12) that: (1) the person is: (A) an adult accompanying a child of the opposite sex younger than eight years of age; or (B) a child younger than eight years of age accompanied by an adult of the opposite sex; or (2) the restroom used is a single-user restroom with a door lock. SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.