NEW TEXAS Laws going into effect tomorrow 9/1/2023

https://www.khou.com/article/news/lo...8-f315e5fe2b49

Some of these are just DUH and Kookie!

Like this one for ALL Texas Drivers.

Failure to identify: Senate Bill 1551 makes failing to identify a criminal offense. That means if a driver fails to provide their driver’s license or does not provide their name, date of birth and address to an officer, they could be charged with a Class B or C misdemeanor.

For as long as I have been driving, we always had to show our Driver's License to a peace officer during a traffic stop.


Telling the officer: Oh I don't have it on me or I left it at home won't get you out of it. The Officer will ask your name and date of birth and social security # and if you gave the officer fake information, they will know and it will get you in deeper trouble than just receiving a traffic citation for driving without a driver's license

This only applies to the driver. Passengers are not required to identify unless the Officer has probable cause or reasonable suspicion the passenger or passengers are wanted or have been involved in or have committed crimes. Of course some officers will make up bullshit so they can demand everyone in the car show their ID. Texas is not a stop and ID state. In Texas, if you are not under arrest, you do not have to identify yourself if you are not driving. You can simply decline to provide your name and date of birth. Likewise, if you are being detained, but not under arrest, you are not required to identify yourself to police..


Everyone needs to be aware of these:

Regulate sexually-oriented performances: Senate Bill 12 gives the authority to regulate sexually-oriented performances and to restrict those performances on the premises of a commercial enterprise, on public property, or in the presence of an individual younger than 18 years of age; authorizing a civil penalty; creating a criminal offense.

'Caleb's Law:' Senate Bill 129 imposes tougher penalties for underage pornography and is named for Caleb Diehl , who vanished in North Texas in 2015 and is still missing. Felony offenders will be prosecuted based on the number of images they are discovered to be in possession of as well as in what capacity they obtained the images.

Increasing human trafficking penalty: House Bill 3554 increases the penalty of human trafficking to a first-degree felony if the offense is committed at certain locations like schools, child-care facilities or shelters.

Stalking crime expanded: Senate Bill 1717 broadens the definition of and expands the repercussions for the criminal offense of stalking.

Harassment: House Bill 1427 expands the prosecution of harassment to include electronic communications from temporary or disposable phones.


So a provider sending texts threatening to out a hobbyist for cancelling an appointment and saying she is going to send screenshots of all their communications to his job and wife and post it on the internet on social media, that provider can be prosecuted for harassment, then.

This one I like

Ban on COVID-related mandates: Senate Bill 29 prohibits local governments from requiring COVID-related masks, vaccines, or business shutdowns.

And this one. Girls should have more money now and lower their rates.

Repealing the 'Tampon Tax:' Senate Bill 379 exempts some family health products such as menstrual products or diapers and other childcare necessities from sales tax.

I wonder what happened to the requirement that sites considered pornographic (the bill I saw was fairly broad in how that was defined) had to get proof of age from its users located in Texas, to prove they are over 18? I thought that bill had been signed, but haven’t seen any articles about it (and very little conversation on the hobby boards).

I believe it was SB1540, but don’t have time at the moment to confirm.

I wonder what happened to the requirement that sites considered pornographic (the bill I saw was fairly broad in how that was defined) had to get proof of age from its users located in Texas, to prove they are over 18? I thought that bill had been signed, but haven’t seen any articles about it (and very little conversation on the hobby boards).

I believe it was SB1540, but don’t have time at the moment to confirm. Originally Posted by TinMan

It was just struck down by U.S. District Judge David Ezra in a lawsuit filed by Pornhub.

https://jonathanturley.org/2023/09/0...-warning-laws/

If I'm driving and get pulled over for just cause i have zero problems showing them my DL and my insurance but they can kiss my pimpled ass if they think i am giving them my SS#.

It was just struck down by U.S. District Judge David Ezra in a lawsuit filed by Pornhub.

https://jonathanturley.org/2023/09/0...-warning-laws/ Originally Posted by limerick304

Thank you! This bill got very little press when it was working its way to the governor’s desk, and once it was signed I was surprised how little discussion it got on this site.

We get ten threads whenever oh2 goes down for a few days, but something like this has far broader implications and potentially a direct impact on this particular community. Turley is right; this ain’t over, but it’s good to see the courts (at least one judge, anyway) recognized this as the assault on the first amendment that it is.

Edit to add: lol. Twenty minutes after I posted this mini-rant, I’m reading the Dallas morning news and see the story on Ezra’s decision on the front page of the Metro section of the DMN. Timing is everything, right?

If I'm driving and get pulled over for just cause i have zero problems showing them my DL and my insurance but they can kiss my pimpled ass if they think i am giving them my SS#. Originally Posted by longhard1one

The new law says nothing at all about providing a Social Security Number - A member of this board said that (and he was being sarcastic). Dude, relax, you're making an issue out of something that isn't an issue.

Read what I wrote again.


If you don't have your Driver's License on you, the Peace Officer will try to identify you by searching for you on their MDT (Mobile Data Terminal) using the following information that they will ask you to give:


Name including first name, middle name, last name and any surnames and maiden names

Date of Birth

Social Security Number


If any of the above information you give to the peace officer is false, you will be in more trouble than getting a traffic ticket for not having your driver's license on you.

Read what I wrote again.


If you don't have your Driver's License on you, the Peace Officer will try to identify you by searching for you on their MDT (Mobile Data Terminal) using the following information that they will ask you to give:


Name including first name, middle name, last name and any surnames and maiden names

Date of Birth

Social Security Number


If any of the above information you give to the peace officer is false, you will be in more trouble than getting a traffic ticket for not having your driver's license on you. Originally Posted by CG2014

The bill does not mention Social Security Numbers at all. Cops never ask for that. If you cannot provider your DL number, they'll ask you for your full name, date of birth and home address.

Please stop adding things in, it only confuses others. I have never in my life (and I've been stopped/questioned a lot) for my Social Security number. Hell, if you ask 100 people what their SS# is, they wouldn't know. Which is why cops ask for their full name & d.o.b. to identify people.

Here is the link to the full bill:
https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88...l/SB01551S.htm





By: West S.B. No. 1551
(In the Senate - Filed March 3, 2023; March 16, 2023, read
first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
April 12, 2023, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 7,
Nays 0; April 12, 2023, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee voteEditSign




A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the prosecution of the criminal offense of failure to
identify; creating a criminal offense.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 38.02, Penal Code, is amended by adding
Subsections (b-1), (b-2), (d-1), and (f) and amending Subsection
(c) to read as follows:
(b-1) A person commits an offense if the person:
(1) is an operator of a motor vehicle, as defined by
Section 32.34, who is lawfully detained by a peace officer for an
alleged violation of a law;
(2) fails to provide or display the person's driver's
license on the officer's request for the license; and
(3) intentionally refuses to give the person's name,
driver's license number, residence address, or date of birth to the
peace officer on the officer's request for that information.
(b-2) For purposes of Subsection (b-1)(3), giving a peace
officer a residence address that is different from the address
associated with the person's driver's license does not constitute a
refusal to give the person's residence address in violation of that
provision if the address given to the officer is the person's actual
residence address.
(c) Except as provided by Subsections [Subsections] (d) and
(d-1) [and (e)], an offense under this section is:
(1) a Class C misdemeanor if the offense is committed
under Subsection (a) or (b-1); or
(2) a Class B misdemeanor if the offense is committed
under Subsection (b).
(d-1) An offense under Subsection (b-1) is a Class B
misdemeanor if it is shown on the trial of the offense that the
actor gave a false or fictitious name to the peace officer during
the commission of the offense.
(f) Subject to Subsection (e), if conduct that constitutes
an offense under Subsection (b-1) also constitutes an offense under
any other law, the actor may be prosecuted under that subsection,
the other law, or both.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.

Cops do ask you for your social security number aside from just your name and date of birth, if you don't have any form of valid ID on you.

I don't mean what's written in this new law that just went into effect.


It has always been done by many Peace Officers.


Don't believe me?

Call any PD (Dallas, Irving, Frisco, Fort Worth, etc) in DFW and ask them.

Also when they write you a ticket, some departments have a blank space on their traffic citation form for your social security number and will ask you for it.


https://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/c...y-5146522.html


https://www.panews.com/2021/07/19/as...curity-number/

Also when they write you a ticket, some departments have a blank space on their traffic citation form for your social security number and will ask you for it.


https://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/c...y-5146522.html


https://www.panews.com/2021/07/19/as...curity-number/ Originally Posted by CG2014

Okay man, it's cool. It sounds like you want to be argumentative and/or "win/prove you're right".

So.....you win. You're right and I'm wrong. Cops will ask for your SS# 100% of the time.

Also just because from your personal experience you have never been asked to give your SSN, it doesn't mean they won't ask or can't ask.


Furthermore have you ever been stopped by the police or any law enforcement and you had no form of ID on you?

Sounds like your experiences are all based on having a form of ID on your person and none on you not having your ID on you so the officer had to identify you by other means, again those means are your full name, date of birth and social security #.


Your name and date of birth is not unique to your identification, your social security number is. It helps the officer eliminates you as a suspect in anything or identify you as a suspect in anything.


Names and date of birth can be confusing especially if the person they are trying to identify has a common names, do you know how many John Smith have the same date of birth? How many Johnson have the same date of birth?


People have been wrongly put in jail for having the same name as someone who is wanted and the officers did not go to the extra TWO step of identify them via their date of birth and social security number to eliminate them.


Like this poor lady in Los Angeles for instance:


https://www.latimes.com/california/s...t-imprisonment

I googled this question and first thing on my Google search results was this response from a Port Arthur, Texas, police officer:

https://www.panews.com/2021/07/19/as...curity-number/

It sounds like it was common practice in some police departments to ask for this information, but less common now. So maybe both of you are right?

I googled this question and first thing on my Google search results was this response from a Port Arthur, Texas, police officer:

https://www.panews.com/2021/07/19/as...curity-number/

It sounds like it was common practice in some police departments to ask for this information, but less common now. So maybe both of you are right? Originally Posted by TinMan

I know a cop CAN ask me for my SSN. Hell, the cop can ask me my mothers place of birth or how I like my steak cooked.

But the standard questions that a cop asks when trying to identify someone is: Full name. DOB. Address. DL Number.

By the way, just because one person in Port Aransas Texas said it happened doesn't mean it will happen in the other 99% of the country. We're also assuming this is a legitimate story. That story reads like something you'd see on Reddit. (a one sided opinion not supported by any facts at all)

Well, it’s a real cop with a column in a real paper in a real Texas town (he has a local radio show, too), so I have no reason to doubt him. Lots of different practices in different jurisdictions throughout this state, so that may or may not have been the case in most cities/counties up until a decade or so ago. I don’t recall if I was ever asked for that information, but I’ve never been without my DL in such a situation so that could be one reason.

Hell, thirty years ago if I had been asked to provide my SSN I wouldn’t have thought twice about it and certainly wouldn’t remember it. I’m amazed now at some of the old paperwork I dig up as I clean up and destroy old records that have my SSN on it. I wish I retained some old speeding tickets to see if that was ever a field on the form.

Edit to add: here’s a page from a law firm that has a photo of a Texas ticket form:

https://www.theticketattorney.com/tr...-misdemeanors/

Note the field for “SSN or additional information”.